Our Battle Cry
by Dancin-Babe
Summary: After tragedies have happened, Aria VanDer Pol has to go live with family friend Emily Young and her fiancee. Not only does she have a secret of her own, but now she's about to learn another secret, and certain boys cant seem to make up their mind about her. But what happens when someone from her past comes to wreck havoc? Will her friends, new & old, be able to help her? A/U
1. Chapter 1: Home

**Chapter One:**** Home**

"_You are not allowed to go to that party!" He screamed at me from the bottom steps of the staircase._

"_Yes I am! And you can't stop me!" I yelled at him as I passed by him and started running to the front door. He grabbed my arm in an attempt to stop me, but I yanked it out of his hands and screamed, "You're not dad, you never will be dad! So stop trying to control my life!" I stormed out of the house and to my car._

"_Aria! Come back please! I'm sorry! Aria!" He yelled as he walked out of the door chasing me._

_I slammed the door shut and left the drive way, heading out to the party that would eventually destroy my life….. _

I was suddenly jerked awaked as Momma Odie turned a sharp corner. "Sorry suga. Didn't mean to wake you," she said. Momma Odie is a 75 year old black lady although she doesn't look like it; she looks like she could be 50. She has a personality that strikes you as soon as she opens her mouth.

"It's okay Momma Odie. Are we almost there?" I asked her. I was looking out the window. All I could see was gray clouds, trees, and wet grass. This is definitely different than New England, where I spent most of my life growing up. I already missed my home. I didn't want to be here.

"We should be there within the next two hours or so. I'm not too sure exactly. But you'll like it. Emily will be there. Wouldn't that be nice after so long of not hearing from her? I miss that sweat girl," She said.

"_I'm sure you do Momma Odie. Just like I miss that tarantula that was hiding under my bed for three months,"_ I thought to myself while she was babbling. I missed my friends, my life, and my brother. None of that mattered though. His stupid will said that I have to go live with his old friend who I haven't seen or heard from in about four years. Now don't get me wrong, I love Emily like a sister. However I would just much rather prefer to not have to move all the way across the country.

Without realizing it I slowly started to fall asleep to the sound of Momma Odie's voice.

**Momma Odie's POV:**

As we were nearing Forks, Washington, I realized that Aria had fallen asleep. I smiled to myself as I picked up the pace and made to La Push in about half an hour. I slowly pulled in front of the small house that she had described to me.

It was cute, a little small but still cute nonetheless. I climbed out of the car and walked up to the front door. I knocked twice on it and it immediately opened up for me. Looking up I found that I was face to face with a man who was at least 6'6".

"Hello. Is an Emily Young here young man?" I asked him.

"Yeah…. Hold on a minute I'll get her," he said hesitantly at first. "Hey Em! Someone's at the door for you!" She shouted into the house.

"Alright I'm coming! Jeez. Can't even get them to be civil anymore," she muttered as she approached the door. She took one look at me and smiled while staring at me. "JoAnne Odie! It is so good to see you again! You look great," she said.

"Come on now child. Give your grandmamma some suga. You look good too Emily. Now Aria is sleeping in the car. .." I said as I hugged her and trailed off not knowing what else to do about Aria.

"Don't worry Mrs. Odie. I'll go get her and put her in her room okay?" The man who opened the door said. I watched as he picked her up from the seat and walked into the house, up the stairs and out of sight.

"Would you like to stay for some tea or coffee? I have plenty here," Emily offered.

"I would love to suga, but I can't. I need to get home but before I do, I have some letters to give you. One is for you and the other is for Aria. And my son Jordan will be here sometime within the week to drop off the rest of Aria's stuff okay?" I told her as I gave her letters and the same man who took her upstairs went and got her stuff out of the car.

She took the letters and looked at me. "Don't worry; she'll be just fine here. This is her home now," she said with a smile on her face and I pulled out of their driveway and onto the road that lead back home.

_"Please Aria, don't do anything that will give you away. This is your only way to stay safe and away from him. Please suga. Be smart."_ I thought as i was driving away from the house and her. All the while wishing and praying that he wouldn't be able to locate her anytime soon.


	2. Chapter 2: 25 To Life

**Chapter Two: 25 To Life**

**Aria's POV**

When I woke up, I was in an unfamiliar room. The walls were blue and green, each wall alternating the colors with the green walls having big deep purple circles on them. There was a dresser across from the bed and to the left of the bed was a desk with what looked my guitar sitting next to it. When my eyes passed by the door I noticed that my bags were in between it and the dresser. _"Huh wonder how they got there…. Come to think of it…. How did I get here anyways?"_ I thought to myself as I slowly got out of the bed. Once I changed into some fresh clothes I headed towards the door.

When I opened the door I heard voices. They sounded like guys' voices too. Following my instincts I slowly went down the stairs. Just like I thought, the further I went, the louder the voices got.

I turned the corner and was met with six people sitting around what looked like a living room. Once they noticed that I was in the room all the talking stopped. The three people sitting on the couch looked over their shoulders. I recognized Emily sitting with who I thought was her fiancé, Sam Uley.

"Oh Aria! You're up! Great! Come down and meet everyone." Emily said as she got up and walked over to me and gently pulled my arm to get me to walk to the living room. "This is Sam, as you know. And over there is Jared, Paul, Quil, and Embry. These are some of the boys who help Sam out around the reservation. Don't worry there are only a few more people who will be coming around here regularly," she said as she pointed to each guy while saying their names, and noticed the look of distress on my face when she mentioned the other guys who I've yet to meet. They were all big and buff. Every one of them had dark tan skin and brown cropped hair. When i looked closely i could see the same tattoo on each of their right shoulders. They were also easily over 6 foot, if not taller.

Everyone waved to me so I hesitantly waved back at them as I went and sat down on the only lazy boy left. Even though I wasn't happy about being here, I figured that there wasn't anything I could do to change it. _"Might as well make the best of it and not be a total bitch"_ I thought to myself.

I noticed that they were just staring at me right now. No one was saying anything. It was so quite that if a toothpick were to fall on the ground you would be able to hear it hit perfectly clear. It was very awkward. I _hate_ awkward situations. I was thinking of getting up and just going back to my room but I was stopped by one of the boys talking to me.

"As you know I'm Quil. A.K.A. the best one of the group," he said while puffing out his chest like superman. I giggled a bit. Everyone smiled at me.

"Pfft. Please you so aren't the best. Everyone knows that it's me! I mean come on look at me!" Embry said while pushing Quil in the shoulder so that he almost fell over.

"Guys, be careful," Sam told them, all the while smiling at their behavior and shaking his head. It got quite after that. No one said anything and it was starting to get awkward again.

"Sooo… Do you want to tell us about yourself?" Embry asked me out of nowhere.

"Umm…. Okay? I'm 17 almost 18. I have three best friends who would do anything for me. And—"

"_I go through guys like money flying out the hands_

_They try to change me but they realize they can't!_

_And every tomorrow is a day I never planned_

_If your gonna be my man than understand…_

_I can't be tamed!_

_I can't be tamed!_

_I can't be blamed!_

_I can't—I can't be tamed!"_

I jumped when I heard that ringtone go off. I quickly tried to reach my phone. Once I did I answered it without even looking to see who was calling me, since I already knew.

"Hey Phyl, what's up?" I asked one of my best friends.

"Hey Aria. Not much. Just wanted to see how you were doing in your new place is all. Ya know, like a good friend does," Phyleesha said to me. I could practically see her twirling her red hair around her finger. I slowly got up and excused myself out of the room.

"I'm doing fine. How're you and the girls?" I asked.

"Oh... We're all good. Nothing new here, just missing you is all. I wanted to make sure that you're alright and don't need us to come down there…" She said while trailing off a bit at the end.

"Uh-huh, really now? Is that they call it these days? Why did you actually call me?"

"Well now! I am offended! Can't a girl just call in to see how her best friend is doing?"

"Phyl, we both know that you have three best friends not just one, and that you never call me. You hate talking to people on the phone! What do you need?" I asked.

"Well… I don't really know how to put this…." She said to me.

"Bluntly would be nice. Or even better you could have Em or Wei* try to say it…. Anything helps really," I told her while I made my way into the kitchen with sarcasm dripping off every word.

"Fine! Gosh, you don't have to be so rude! I need help picking a song for the competition. I figured that you would be able to help me since I'm only in it because of you. But I just don't know what to sing at all! I mean without you there I'm not even half as good as before!" She said. I could sense that she was about to rant.

"Okay, I'll help alright? And you and I both know that you got in the competition all on your own, I didn't do anything. See asking for help wasn't so hard now was it?" I asked her sarcastically.

When I looked up, I saw that four of the five guys came into the kitchen, obviously following me and wanting to listen to my conversation. There was silence on the other side of the phone. Knowing Phyl, she was letting me think. It was good that she called since I knew what she should sing, however I kept up the pause waiting for her to make some remark since I could picture her face in a worry state, almost like she thought I would take it back.

"Aria?! Do you have any ideas? Aria!" She called through the phone

"Okay, I think I got it. Sing 'Listen'. Everyone loves it when you sing that. It's perfect," I told her.

"I would but I can't. Maggie Peirce registered that as her song two days ago. And I so can't sing the same thing as her. What do I do?" She screamed into the phone. I had to hold it away from my ear for the safety of my hearing.

"Okay. Okay. Relax, take deep breaths. It'll work out. Alright?" I told her. One of the boys (I think it was Jared?) started drumming on the table with his hands in a somewhat familiar beat. Suddenly it hit me. I knew what she should sing. "I got it! Sing 'Baby Love'! It's perfect! I mean isn't Juju taking you there since he goes to school by it?"

"That's perfect! Oh thank you so much! Wait… What do you mean since Juju goes to school near it? He's not taking me and I resent your accusations!"

"Whatever, you have yet to prove that my so called 'accusations' aren't true. When you do, then I'll leave you alone," I told her while smiling. She knew that I was joking though since she used to have a huge crush on him for the longest time.

"Anyway, thanks so much! You are awesome and I owe you big time! You are the best friend a girl could have." I could tell that she was really happy since she said that she "owed" me.

"Whatever you say. Hey, I got to go, so I'll text you later alright?" I told her. After she said her goodbye's to me she hung up the phone.

After I put my phone away, I realized that everyone had migrated into the kitchen and listened in on my half of the conversation. All of the boys were staring at me with confused faces.

"What?" I asked them while tilting my head to the side.

"Nothing, nothing. That was just an interesting conversation to listen to. Umm… do your friends always ask for your help like that?" Jared asked me with the other guys nodding their heads behind him.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Not all the time. But some of it yeah, I mean I don't mind helping them 'cause I know that they would do the same for me in a heartbeat," I said. I turned and went to the fridge looking for something to drink. I found a bottle of water and took it out while unscrewing the cap. I sat at the medium sized table with all of the boys looking at each one slowly.

"Sooo….. What were you saying before you got interrupted? You have three best friends? Are they hot?" the one who I figured out was Paul asked. I figured that it might take a few days before I could officially tell them all apart.

I could see Sam giving Paul a disapproving look before I answered him. "Yes, I do have three best friends. Their names are Emmerson, Phyleesha, and Wei-Wei (pronounced 'Way Way')*. I love them all dearly and they happen to be very hot. But, none of them would like you. Sorry," I told him with a fake look of sympathy on my face. As I got up to head upstairs to finish unpacking Sam called my name.

"Yeah Sam?" I asked him.

"The rest of the guys will be over later tonight." he said giving me warning so that I could prepare myself for the invasion of people.

"That's cool. I'm going to finishing unpacking if that's al right," I told him while turning around and continuing my way up the stairs and to my room. The entire way up I was wondering what these other boys would be like.


	3. Chapter 3: Halo

**Chapter Three: Halo**

**Aria's POV**

It took me almost four hours to unpack and get everything situated. And I still had to wait for the rest of my stuff to come too! I was about to fall onto my bed when someone knocked on my door. "Aria, honey, may I come?" I heard Emily's voice say through the door.

"Of course," I replied.

She came and sat down on my bed and motioned for me to take a seat on it next to her. I went and sat down where she patted. She seemed to be having trouble trying to get her words out, so I just waited quietly for her to say what she needed to say.

"Aria, I want you to be comfortable here okay? So if any of the boys do something that bugs you, just let me or Sam know, okay?" She said with a somewhat worried expression on her face.

"Alright… is everything okay Emily? You seem kind of skittish," I said as I turned to get a better look at her.

"Yes. Everything is fine. I'm just so happy that your here. I mean, I hate the circumstances that brought you here, but I'm very happy to see you again," she said while smiling at me. I just smiled back her not entirely too sure what to do now. "Is that your keyboard? And your favorite acoustic guitar?" She asked me while getting up a running her hand along my guitar. Then she went over to the keyboard and read the inscription on the bottom right below the keys. It read _Aria Nikeeta VanDer Pol, I love you baby sister._

I just smiled at her and nodded my head. You could see that I had my music sheets around the keyboard. I watched her as she picked up one of the sheet's that was on the top of the mess papers. Suddenly she turned around and looked at me while smiling.

"Can I show Sam and some of the boys this? I know that they would just love it. I know it," she asked me with a huge smile on her face. No matter what happened that stopped us from talking all those years ago I couldn't say no to her. Not when she was that happy to see me with my music.

"Sure. But please don't let them bug me about it. I hate it when I get grief over my music," I told her when I was standing up to get her the other music sheets for that song. I handed them to her and watched as she left my room and closed the door heading downstairs. I sighed and flopped down into my chair and looked at my keyboard. I was thinking of playing it but I was nervous. I hadn't touched my keyboard since my brother disappeared. I just couldn't bring myself to play lately.

I started cleaning up the massive amounts of paper that contained my life in music. It was then that I realized exactly what song that Emily had taken. It was the song that Derrieck had started working on for me to sing. I didn't want anyone to see that since it wasn't done. And it never would be done. Not unless Derrieck would somehow magically appear and finish it.

I rushed to my door and yanked it open. I rushed to the stairs but stopped. I could hear a lot more voices downstairs then how many were there earlier. I wondered who had showed up. I could distinguish at least two more voices, who were both male. _"What are up with this many guys? I swear it's like a prostitute's house but in reverse"_ I thought to myself as I made my way downstairs. I was not expecting what was about to happen next.

As I was descending down the stairs I peeked into the kitchen but no one was in there. Once I hit the bottom I turned and went into the living room. I was right. There were three more people in the room than last time, and I didn't know these people too. However one was female, she was very pretty too and I could tell just by looking at her that she didn't really want to be here and she was really athletic. Then there were the two boys, they looked like the rest of the guys; tall, buff, tan and with the same tattoo. One of them noticed me and gave a look to Sam and Emily, while nudging the other guy. They turned around and soon all eyes were on me. It was eerily quiet for about ten seconds before I heard someone gasp. When I looked back at everyone I could tell that almost everyone's eyes had been drawn to one of the new boys.

"Aria, I'm glad you came down. This is Leah, Seth, and Jacob. They're some of the people that Sam told you about earlier," Emily told me in a kind voice. It was like she was waiting for my reaction on something. The one that Emily said was Jacob is the one that gasped. I looked at him and we ended up locking eyes. The look that he gave me chilled my spine, but I didn't let it show. He was looking at me as if I was his light, his sun, the flowers on the ground, his air. Almost as if he believed that I was his everything.

I had a feeling that this guy was my _Vero Amante.__ I could feel a shift in the air that made me slightly air-headed for a few seconds._All of my people know what's supposed happen when someone meets their _Vero Amante_ and I did not want that to happen at all. I could see what looked like Sam taking a deep breath out of the corner of my eye. Meanwhile Jacob had yet to take his eyes off of me. It was so weird. After a bit, I seemed to jump out of whatever had come over me, and remembered why I had come down here in the first place.

"Hey it's nice to meet you. Umm, I was actually wondering if I could have those sheets back. I realized that I needed to finish them before anyone sees them," I said trailing off a bit at the end because that all of the boys were switching glances between me and the boy who was still staring at me.

"Sure Aria here you go," Sam said when he handed me the sheets of paper back. I quietly thanked him and went back up to my room.

**Jacob's POV**

The majority of the pack was sitting in Sam's living room discussing new patrols, and what we were going to do now that the whole situation with the Cullen's has seemed to be over. I wasn't really listening until Embry said something about a girl in the house that was supposedly really hot.

"Dude, I can't believe her. She is an absolute beaut-" Paul was saying before Sam cut him off.

"And off limits to all of you. Especially you Paul," he said. You could hear various groans and Seth complain since he hasn't even met her yet. "I don't want to hear it. None of you are allowed to date her. She doesn't need to know about us. Understood?" he said using his 'alpha' voice. I could see Quil snickering at them. Just than Emily came in, with what looked like random papers in her hand.

"What's that in your hand Em?" Jared asked pointing at the papers in her hands.

"Oh. Nothing really, just something that Aria let me borrow," she replied.

"_Aria…. Who's that? How come I don't know her…. wait… she must be the girl that they are looking after"_ I thought to myself. I could see Emily looking at the papers with a weird expression on her face. Almost like she couldn't read what was on them. Everyone was talking about how 'nice' and 'pretty' this girl was. I didn't want to listen I was still hurt over what had happened.

Next thing I know, Seth is nudging me and look up in the direction that he wanted me to. I couldn't help but gasp at her beauty. She had light blonde hair that went just passed her shoulders, and chocolate brown eyes that I got lost in. All I saw was my everything. I couldn't tear my eyes away from her. It was like fate had brought us together. I was meant to protect, love, and care for her. I would be damned if anything stopped me. She was wearing jeans that flared out at the bottom and a white t-shirt that has a fallen tree on it squishing a worker, while the tree said 'tehe'. Her hair was down and looked like it had been curled earlier in the day. I could see some natural highlights in it. I didn't even realize that she got something and then left. I was going to get up but one word from Sam and I was glued in my seat, he was still my alpha.

"No Jacob. Sit down," he said in his 'alpha' voice. God, how I hated hearing that voice right about now. "I can't believe it. Not even here for a day and she gets imprinted on!" he whispered.

"Hey. At least it wasn't Paul," Quil said trying to lighten the mood. I would have laughed but I was too shocked when I realized that Sam just said that I _imprinted_. I couldn't, no wouldn't, imprint on anybody.

"I got to go. I'll see you guys tomorrow," I said as I made to leave the house. I could faintly hear them trying to stop me but nothing worked. I just phased and ran, all the way to my house and then I went straight to my bed hoping to sleep.

Sadly though, I couldn't. I kept picturing her face in mind. She was an angel. The way the light reflected off of her hair made it look like she had a halo.


	4. Chapter 4: Words I Couldn't Say

**Chapter Four:Words I Couldn't Say**

**Aria's POV**

**_Two days later_**

_I was running through the woods. I was being chased by something but couldn't tell what. All of a sudden I was in a giant clearing. I couldn't see anything beyond the clearing._

_"Aria… Aria… You must be careful. Learn to trust yourself fully… Aria… Heed my warning," some voice was calling to me. I couldn't see anyone else near me when all of a sudden there was a passage of some kind in the clearing. I started running towards it. I was almost there when-_

_CRASH!_ "Quil! Be careful, you'll wake Aria up and then Emily will be pissed!" someone yelled.

_Great, what a good way for me to wake up. Better than my dream I guess. Ugh. I so don't want to get up,_ I thought to myself. I looked over at my alarm clock and it read 8:49 am. I was ready to scream. It was summer and I had recently moved across the country and I was woken up before nine! I laid back down on my bed and just started thinking about what I could do.

I slowly got up, went to my closet and picked out my clothes for the day. It was a simple outfit; a pair of Bermuda shorts, a light blue camisole, and a tank top that faded from white to a light blue. After that, I took my clothes and went down the hall into the bathroom to take a shower.

Once I was done, I dried my hair and put on some light make up. As I was going back to my room I picked up my phone and checked the time. 9:30 am read back at me. I groaned and slowly made my way down the stairs and to the kitchen so I could get some food. For some reason I was nervous. I think that it had to do with Jacob. I haven't seen him since that night, well except for one time when he came over to tell Sam something. But after that he left without one glance at me. When I first saw him it was… like he could see everything about me. I never once thought that I would ever find my _Vero Amante_. It was a myth that was spread around so that way people would fear us. _Maybe if I keep avoiding him, than the connection won't ever happen and I'll be good. I could be myself and not have to worry about him. Yes!_ I thought. By now I had reached the kitchen.

When I looked inside of it I saw five people. Emily was at the stove, while Quil, Embry, Jared and Sam sat at a table that was in the middle of the room. The boys seemed to be deep in conversation about something but I couldn't hear what. Over the past two days I've become pretty good friends with Embry and Jared. They remind me a lot of my friends back home. And apparently I'm meant to meet Jared's girlfriend sometime soon. Juju is also meant to show up within the next few days with the rest of my stuff.

I slowly walked into the room and sat down at the table. "Good morning Aria. How are you?" Sam asked me with a smile on his face. Since I got here Sam has been ublery kind to me. He doesn't try to be like my dad instead he acts like an older brother. Which for some reason despite what happened, is okay with me.

"Morning. I'm fine. I would be better if someone wouldn't have been loud and woke me up," I said while turning to mock glare at Quil. He tried to look innocent. Suddenly Emily came over and hit him upside the head with her spatula. Everyone started laughing at him while Embry muttered a 'told ya so'.

Slowly everyone in the kitchen started eating. By now I had gotten used to how all the guys around here scarf down their food like no other. A little bit after everyone finished (the guys had fourths, like usual) I had decided that I wanted to explore. I may have been here for a few days but sadly, I haven't left the house.

Gathering up my courage I looked at Sam and was about to ask him when the back door opened and in walked Paul, Seth, Brady, Colin (I met them the day after I arrived), and to my utter surprise Jacob. As soon as they all sat down the boys started talking. I was sitting in between Emily and Embry, with Sam on the other side of Emily. And next to Embry it went Quil, Seth, Brady, Jacob, Colin, Paul and then Jared who was on Sam's other side. Once it quieted down some I looked over at Sam.

"Hey Sam?" I asked.

Everyone turned to look at me all at once. "Yeah Aria?" he said as he looked back at me.

"Umm… I was wondering if I could go explore. I haven't really seen anything besides the house and yard," I said as I got a hopeful look on my face. I could see that Jared, Seth, and Embry tried to start up other conversations so I wouldn't feel so weird. _Thanks you guys_ I thought as I saw Sam contemplating my question.

"Sure. I guess. But you have to promise me that you'll be careful when you're out okay? And try to be back by dinner," he said once he saw the look on my face and on Emily's. I was so happy that I got up and hugged him. Then I was out the door and off to explore the town.

I started out by heading toward the forest. As I walking I kept tripping over roots and bushes. But it was so beautiful. I wish that I had brought my camera along with me. Everywhere I looked had a tree that was huge compared to me, with run down trails and paths that you could tell that no one had been on in a while. I was climbing over fallen trees when I saw a small opening.

As I got closer I realized that I was at a small clearing. It looked similar to the one in my dream. There was a fallen log going through a part of the clearing but not enough to get into someone's way. There were a few flowers along the edge of trees. It looked like a wildflower meadow. Being in the field made me feel at peace with everything in the world. I could feel a slight breeze passing through like a whisper.

I stood on the log and put my arms out beside me. I embraced the wind and closed my eyes concentrating. I slowly moved my arms in a large circular motion, similar to one that you would see someone who does tai chi do, and I could feel the air around me moving with my arms. I brought my hands close to my face and blow on them as if I was blowing away dust. When I opened my eyes I saw a stream of air rush towards where I had blown. I smiled to myself, very pleased that my powers are still that strong even though I'm separated from the others.

Wanting to experiment I slowly raised my arms, crossed them and then pushed them so my palms were facing down. I was flung into the air. I did three front flips before I landed on the log in a squatting position. I looked around to make sure that no one saw that. I exhaled when I saw that I was still by myself. I decided to keep experimenting with my powers. I was lifting and picking flowers while making the branches on the trees sway as if they were dancing. I smiled as I started to leave the small meadow. I had decided that it was now my meadow; a place where I can escape from everything and be myself. Where I can practice my powers, or dance, or sing, or do gymnastics. Anything that I ever wanted to do I could.

As I was making my way back towards the house, I was suddenly very grateful for being connected with nature. If it wasn't for that than I knew that I would have been lost without a doubt. It's a powerful feeling to know that you are that connected with everything around you.

When I saw the house in my line of sight I looked at the sky and I barely saw the sun. However half of the sky was pink, while the rest was a nice light blue. It looked like someone had taken one of the fat paint brushes and ran in through the sky.

I decided to go through the front door. As I was heading there I saw three more cars out front than when I left. There was a Volkswagen Rabbit, a Jeep Wrangler, and a dark blue Hummer. For some reason the hummer stuck out to me the most, not because it was the most expensive one, but only because it seemed to be the most familiar. I walked to it and tried to peep into the windows. Sadly I was too short to see into the tinted windows. I finally gave up after trying to jump and look for a few minutes. I walked the short distance from the hummer to the front door. I opened the door and it was surprisingly quiet. It hasn't been this quiet since the first night that I had arrived and went downstairs. I heard a small cough, almost like someone was trying to alert me to where everyone was. Since I thought that it had come from the kitchen, I went in that direction. As I got closer I could finally hear some voices. I figured that it had to be around 6:30pm or so.

Once I reached the kitchen I walked in without even waiting a second. When everyone heard my footsteps they looked up at me. I could recognize everyone in the room. Emily and Sam were sitting beside each other, with Jared and Paul arm wrestling next to them. While on their other side were Seth, Leah and Quil in what looked like a heated discussion. And lastly there was Jacob, who looked oddly tense and like he didn't want to be here. What surprised me the most was who was sitting across from Emily and Sam, yet they were looking at me with a smile on their face, seeming to be completely at ease.

As soon as the person turned around I felt my world light up and it was like all of my prayers had been answered. Sitting and talking with Sam and Emily, was Juju. Aka Jordan Julius Odie, Mama Odie's grandson and my best friend's brother. Once it finally registered to me that he was sitting there I the only thing that I could think of at the time.

"JUJU!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I ran to him and he stood up and caught me, somehow meeting me halfway. I could hear laughter coming from around the room. I smiled into his chest as he put me down and held me in a bone crushing hug.

"Baby-cakes. I missed you so much. Oh so much," he said into my hair. I could tell from the tone of his voice that he meant every word.

"I missed you too, Juju," I told him as I pulled away to look up at his face. He smiled at me and pulled me over and into his lap as he sat down on his chair.

"Wow, Aria, you sure do have some lungs on you," Embry said while laughing and looking between me, Juju, Sam and for some reason Jacob. Everyone laughed at that comment. I couldn't help but to laugh along because that wasn't anything compared to what I can do.

Once everyone settled down I looked behind me at Juju and asked him the one thing that was on my mind, "Why the hell are you here?"

"Oh, gee thanks. I feel so loved. Here I am after driving all the way from back home with your crap in my Hummer and you don't even care about how I'm doing. Thanks baby-cakes, thanks a lot," he said while pretending to be mad at me.

"You have my stuff?" I gasped at him. He was supposed to bring the rest of my clothes, posters and anything that I might have forgotten in my hasty packing trip.

"If by stuff you mean, all the crap that you couldn't fit in Mama's SUV, than yeah. It's in the trunk," he said while turning to talk to Emily again.

She was laughing while shaking her head at us. Since she had been friends with my brother and Juju when they were younger, she was kind of used to how we behaved around each other. "You two haven't changed a bit about how you treat each other have you?" she asked and she saw me trying to sneakily poke his side.

"Not really," he responded while slapping my hand away. After ten minutes of small talk, someone finally asked the question that I figured everyone besides me, Juju and Emily knew the answer too.

"So… are you two dating or something?"


	5. Chapter 5: Broken Bridges

**Chapter Five:Broken Bridges**

**Aria's POV**

I turned and stared at the person who asked the question. It turned out that Jacob asked the question. I looked him dead in the eye trying to keep a straight face before I cracked up and started howling with laughter. I doubled over and was clutching my stomach while Juju was laughing too. His head was thrown back and his eyes were closed as he was laughing. I had tears starting to pour out of my eyes when I started to calm down.

I could faintly hear Quil mumble something about it 'not being that funny'. And that sent me into a new round of laughter while Juju had sobered up and was holding my waist to keep me from falling over. I could see everyone giving me looks like they were scared for my health or mental well-being.

Juju leaned close to me and whispered "Are you okay baby-cakes? Do you need water or something?"

"I'm fine. I swear. It's just that us as a… a couple? That's so funny!" I said as I looked at him. I turned to face Jacob now that I was somewhat calm and said, "Dating him would be like if I were to date my brother. Wrong on so many different levels. He's way too old for me. No offence Juju," I said as I turned back to look at him. He shrugged, showing me that he didn't mind since he was 23 years old.

"Than what is with you two acting like you do? I mean it's weird to see two people act like that and them not being together," Jared said while gesturing to how we were sitting, me being on his lap and his hands on my waist. I could see Jacob just barely start tensing when Jared gestured at us from the corner of my eye.

"Well, I've known Aria and her family her whole life. Our mothers were friends, and her brother was my best friend, while my little sister is her best friend. So it's safe to say that she's basically like blood to me," he said as I decided to lean my back against his chest and get comfy.

It got silent again, for about five minute when suddenly Sam asked, "Why does she call you 'Juju'?"

I smirked and went to answer Sam when Juju's hand tried to cover my mouth. Finally I was able to cover his mouth with my hand while saying, "I'll answer this." So I looked at everyone and said, "Because his name is Jordan Julius Odie. And Momma Odie calls him Juju all the time. It's so funny because when she says it she's usually screaming for him to help her with something." At that everyone, including Jacob started laughing.

Emily smiled and I could tell that she was happy to see one of her old friends again. It made me realize that this place might not be so bad. But I don't think that I would ever be able to call it home, at least not for a long time. I got lost in my thoughts and the next thing I know Juju is pushing me lightly off of his lap while everyone else is getting up and out of their chairs. Slowly everyone made their way into the living room except for me, Sam, Emily, and Juju.

He looked at Sam and asked, "Is it okay if I steal her for a bit? You know, to catch up?"

He gave us a look and nodded his head, "Sure, just be careful and don't go into the forest at night. It's not the safest of places."

Jordan nodded and took me by my wrist while guiding me out the front door and sat me on the front porch steps. He sat down next to me and was quiet for a while. I liked it. It reminded me of all the times when he and Emmerson would come over and we all would just sit in the backyard and look up at the sky and the stars, not saying anything. I missed those times. We hadn't done that in a year or so since everyone got so busy.

"Do you like it here?" Juju asked out of nowhere.

"Yeah, I guess. I mean it's really pretty, when it's not raining. And most of the people I've met have been nothing but kind to me…" I trailed off.

"But it's not home?"

"Exactly. Now don't get me wrong, I'm so grateful for Sam and Emily taking me in, but… I would have been fine living with my grandparents. I would have been fine even living with Mama Odie and Em. I miss them, along with Wei-Wei and Phyleesha. I mean, I have no one that I can to about my…talent. And it also doesn't help that I'm scared. I don't know if he'll find me or not. I was only safe for that long because of what my brother did. And now… he can find me much easier. And if he does, I'm powerless against him! The only time when anyone can get rid of him is with all four of us. I'm only _one person_," I told him. It was true, I, the so called great Aria, was scared that Damien would find me.

He looked at me and sighed. "It'll be okay. You know that the girls will come and visit you soon. And as for Damien? You have nine buff guys in there and one tough chick too. If he comes near you I'm pretty sure that they'll be able to fend him off. Beside he can only track you when you use your 'talents'," he told me while gesturing back to the house and then coming in front of me and grabbing me by my shoulders.

"But what if they aren't enough to stop him? Then what do I do? Run? Fight him? Huh, what then?" I asked.

"That's just a bridge that you'll have to face when the time comes. Until then, you haven't been seeing anyone have you?" he asked.

I groaned as he went to sit back down. I covered my face with my hands. "I so don't want to talk about this right now."

"Why? Cause I happen to know of someone who is _still_ waiting for you to go out with them. And if I know you like I think I do, which I do, than you should just tell him 'no' gently and then you get onto these hunk a hunk of burnin' loves inside," he said once he was sitting down next to me, putting his arm over his shoulder and winking at me. I couldn't help but laugh at that, mainly because he had used the phrase that me and the girls use when we see a really cute boy.

"I really have missed you and the girls… nothing's the same without them with me ya know?" I asked while looking up at the stars.

"Yeah, I understand. But I also know that you can't keep sulking and hiding without them. He wanted you to be here for some reason. We'll just have to wait and find out what exactly for" Juju said while shrugging his shoulders.

Suddenly he asked me, "Do you still remember that song that you and your brother used to sing together?" When I nodded my head, he headed out to his hummer and got out a guitar.

_He must be so hyper right now, or bipolar,_ I thought. I smiled at him. "What do you want me to sing it with you?"

"Yeah, just trust me on this okay?" he asked as he sat down across from me and slowly started strumming.

I smiled when I started strumming the first notes of the song. When it was time he started singing.

_Jordan:_

_There are bridges on life's highway__  
__But we never see them there.__  
__Some cross troubled waters__  
__Some don't go nowhere._

_Me:_

_Some you wouldn't step on,__  
__If you were trying to save your soul.__  
__One comes with a keeper__  
__When it's time to pay the toll._

_Jordan:_

_Some aren't meant to last forever__  
__Some are made of stone.__  
__Some are meant to cross together,__  
__Some you go alone._

_Me:_

_Some the slightest wind can send them,__  
__Crashing to the ground.__  
__I set a bridge on fire,__  
__But I could not burn it down._

_Both:_

_Now here I am(ooohh)__  
__Prayin for forgiveness__  
__And I can see you(And I can see you)__  
__Standing on the other side(oohh)__  
__Here I go (Here I go)__  
__And Baby it's a heavy load (It's a heavy load)__  
__I have crossed some broken bridges in my time__  
__(Broken bridges in my time)__  
__Now here I am (Now here I am)__  
__Prayin for forgiveness (Prayin for forgiveness)__  
__And I can see you (oh I can see you)__  
__Standing on the other side__  
__(Standing on the other side)__  
__Here I go (Now, here I go)__  
__And Buddy it's a heavy load (Baby it's a heavy load)__  
__But I have crossed some broken bridges in my time__  
__(crossed some broken bridges in my time)__  
__Yes, I have crossed some broken bridges in my time._

When we finished it was quiet and peaceful. And I understood why he made me sing it with him. I smiled at him and he smiled back. All of a sudden we heard clapping. We both turned around to see who it was and saw all of the guys minus Seth, Brady, Colin, and Leah. Emily had a smile on her face and it looked like she might cry.


	6. Chapter 6: Stranger

**Chapter Six: Stranger**

**Aria's POV**

I was now saying goodbye to Juju. After everyone heared me sing last night I went to bed and avoided their stares. He had made friends with the guys. He was currently saying goodbye to Emily. Once he was done, he came over to me and held out his arms. I ran into them and buried my head in his chest.

"Please don't leave. I'll miss you," I told him.

"I'm sorry baby-cakes. But you know that I have to get back to school, and tell Momma that you're doing okay." He pulled my face away from his chest and made me look up at him. "But hey, the girls said that they'll be here soon. And you know that they are going to try and stay for as long as they can. And I'm always just a phone call away okay?" he told me. He then gave me a bone crushing hug and got in his hummer and was on his way back home.

Emily came over to me and gave me a side hug. "It'll be okay. You know that he'll visit. In the meantime… how about I make us some lunch?" She asked me while giving me a knowing look. I nodded my head and headed inside with her and all of the guys.

After Juju left and we had lunch, I ended up walking around outside some more. I decided to go to my meadow. Once I got there I sat down on the log. A breeze was blowing in the meadow. I lifted my head towards the sky and let the breeze pass by me. I decided to manipulate the breeze a bit for some practice.

I got up and walked into the center of the meadow. I slowly started moving my arms, watching the air around me bending to my will. I moved the air further up into the trees until it was past their tops. I smiled to myself and was about to leave when I thought about what Juju said. _Damien can track me if I use my powers too much. Okay… I'm only to use them if the situation calls for it. Sounds good_ I thought to myself as I started heading back to the house.

Once inside I decided to read for a while until dinner was ready. I was sitting on the couch reading one of my favorite books, Where the Heart Is, when a shadow suddenly took up all of my light. I looked up and saw Jared standing there with his hands on his hips.

Giggling, I asked, "Yes Jared? Anything that I can help you with?"

"Well… do you remember when I told you that I wanted you to meet my girlfriend?" He asked while raising his eyebrows.

_Hmmm… I wonder if he can raise only one, or does he have to raise both?_ I thought. "Yeah…?" I trailed off, silently telling him to continue.

"Well, she's coming over here today! So I figured that you would want to meet her. You know, since she's a girl, and you're a girl, so you can talk about… girl… things…"

"Please just stop. I get it. We can talk, don't keep trying to hurt yourself," I told him while raising my hands. "Now I'm going back to my book. Please move so I can have some light you giant."

He made a 'pfft' sound and walked away, probably into the kitchen since Emily is making cookies. I started reading again, and the next thing I know there is a knock at the door. It seemed like no one wanted to get the door. The person knocked again. Giving up on reading I put my bookmark in and got up making my way to the door. Right as the person was about to knock again I yanked open the door. I was about to yell at them, but I stopped when I saw that it was a girl. She was of average height, with tan skin and warm brown eyes. Her hair reached to just past her shoulders. _She's really pretty, I wonder if this is Jared's girly friend._ I thought to myself before she started talking.

"Umm… hi. Is Jared or Emily here?" she asked timidly.

"Yeah they are. Do you want me—" I started to ask before I was rudely interrupted by Jared.

"Kim! You're here! Great come in. You know that you don't have to knock. Oh, by the way, this is Aria. The girl I told you about," he said in one breath while grinning afterwards with his arm around her shoulders.

Over the past few hours me and Kim sat down together and started talking; just getting to know the basic facts to see if we could become good friends. She ended up staying for dinner, but leaving right after. I found out that she does gymnastics.

However, after dinner is when it got exciting around here. I was sitting watching Bones with Embry, Quil, Paul, and Jacob. Sam and Emily were in the kitchen. It was right in the middle of the episode when the doorbell rang. None of the guys seemed like they were going to get it, so I got up and headed towards the door.

I opened the door and saw three average height white guys. Now, I say white guys because they were paper white. They all had the same golden colored eyes. Two of the men had blonde hair, one was slicked back while the other was semi long, it reached about the top of his ears, and the last one had disheveled bronze colored hair. They looked at me and right as one of them was about to speak I felt someone come up to my back and put a hand on my shoulder, almost as if they were going to push me back behind them. Whoever was behind me growled slightly. _Wait… did he seriously just growl? Like an animal? These guys get weirder every freaking day_ I thought to myself.

"What are you doing here Cullen?" I heard Jacob ask. I turned my head slightly to see behind and I was right, it indeed was Jacob. He was glaring at the bronze haired guy with absolute hatred in his eyes.

"We have permission to be here. We need to talk to Sam. Now," said the one with the slicked back hair. I was about to respond when I felt Jacob squeeze my shoulder and he turned his head towards the kitchen.

"Sam! Someone's here to see you," He yelled into the house. He turned back to look completely at the three men.

I was starting to get pissed off with all four of these guys. I don't even know who they are and Jacob is acting like if I speak to them then I'll die or combust into ashes.

"I'm sorry we've seemed to have forgotten our manners. I'm Carlisle Cullen, and these are two of my sons Edward and Jasper," he said while pointing to the bronze then blonde haired one. "And you are?" He was looked directly at me.

"Aria, why don't you go finish watching your TV show? I'm sure that they guys are missing you," Sam said while putting his hand on my lower back and gently pushing me back into the living room.

As soon as his hand touched my back I was aware of just how hot all of these guys were. They had to be over 100 degrees, at least. I kept walking into the living room nonetheless. I could faintly hear Sam asking the men to join him, Jacob, Paul, Embry, Quil and now Jared who came out of nowhere in the front yard. I was wondering what was going on, and I decided that the best way to find out was to snoop. I was lucky that my room's window was directly over the front yard. Once I was in my room I went over to the window and opened it up just a crack. Even though I knew that I shouldn't use my powers, I did. I made some of the air that was surrounding them float up into my room so I could hear what they were saying.

**Sam's POV**

I had talked the Cullen's earlier today and they said that they had found something that might be heading into La Push. They had asked if they could come into La Push to talk to us and see if it had made it here yet.

"So, why are you here?" Jacob asked with venom in his voice.

"Easy, I allowed them to come onto our land temporarily," I told him while grabbing his shoulder.

"Well, there is good news and bad news Sam," Dr. Cullen said. "The good news is that it hasn't seem to of been in La Push yet," he said with a small smile.

"What is this it? What don't we know? And you better not leave anything out you leeches," Embry said taking a step forward.

"We saw a man that was heading towards here a few days ago. It looked like he was searching for something but didn't know where to look first. Normally we wouldn't think anything of it. Except that—" Jasper started to say but stopped suddenly. He looked at Carlisle as if to confirm something. He nodded his head and Jasper continued talking, "Except that he was moving as fast as us, was in the forest, and didn't leave a scent behind him."

All of the guys were about to start talking but I interrupted them. "Stop guys. If you can't stay calm then leave, because I'm not risking lives tonight." They all slowly started to calm down; Jake was the last one to relax. "So what is the bad news?"

All of their faces turned hard, they were wearing expressionless masks. Finally Carlisle started talking again, "We lost him. I had Rosalie and Emmett following him when he seemed to disappear into the trees. Almost as if he went right through it."

"How is that even possible?" I asked while looking at Edward for the answer.

His attention suddenly went right above our heads and we heard a window shut quickly. I turned around and saw that it was the window to Aria's room.

"Uh oh. You don't think she heard any of that do you?" Quil muttered while looking around at all of the guys.

"I don't know if she did. Besides, she far enough away that more than likely she couldn't understand a word we said. It's hard to read her mind, it's like there is a fog around her brain that won't let anyone in," Edward answered calmly. "And as far as I or anyone in my family knows, it's impossible for someone to walk, let alone run, right through a tree without breaking it."

"Right. You'll keep us updated? And we'll do the same for you," I said while nodding to them and moving to stand in front of Jake. "Calm down Jake. You wouldn't want to hurt Aria if you lost control now would you?" I whispered to him while trying to block his view of the Cullen's.

"Of course. We'll call you if we see him heading towards here. Have a good night. But don't worry, I believe that we scared him away from here," Carlisle said while directing his 'sons' towards the forest.

**Aria's POV**

I couldn't believe what I just heard. _He found me. Or he might, since he doesn't seem to be close. Why couldn't I just not use my powers? Or have some sort of talisman that keeps me hidden…_ I thought to myself as I started pacing and after five minutes I decided to sleep. _I'm not going to do anyone any good if I'm tired and can barely stay up on my feet._ So I slowly changed into my pajamas and crawled into bed and let my mind wander onto different things. The last thing that I remembered thinking about was the song that I sang with Juju yesterday. Then sleep overtook me.


	7. Chapter 7: Here We Go Again

**Chapter Seven:Here We Go Again**

**Aria's POV**

It's been three days since that night when the Cullen's had come over. Nothing to exciting has happen. Oh! Except for the fact that Sam's made one of the guys be with me every time I leave the house. Or Sam isn't in the house, basically at all times unless I'm in my room or the bathroom. It wouldn't be that bad if I got to pick who was with me, but of course I'm not allowed to! Sam assigns the guys to me. Mostly it's been Embry, Jared or Seth. One time it was Paul, but I punched him for making a crude comment about Phyleesha, I was texting her, so he hasn't been with me since. That was two days ago.

Right now, I'm sitting in the living room bored, watching TV. Jacob, Embry, and Quil are here. It's still a little awkward with Jacob. However, we are talking more and getting along a bit better than when we first met. But things still get pretty awkward with us, especially whenever I ask someone about the Cullen's. That someone is usually Seth. Since he tells me anything that I want to know.

"Ugh! I'm so bored!" I said while hanging upside down on the couch. My feet are right by Quil's ear so I keep moving them by him and he freaks out. It's funny.

"Why don't you go finish that song? You said that you wanted it done before your friends got here," Embry told me. And yes, the guys do know that I do the music for me and my friends to sing to. Only Embry knows about me writing songs. I don't know why I told him, I think that it's because he reminds me of Emma so much. Every time we hang out, I feel like I'm back home.

I had called the girls yesterday and told them that I missed them a lot. We were able to get permission for them to come visit within the next week or so, so I was a pretty excited about that.

"Or you could stop putting your foot by my ear! Stop it!" Quil said while smacking my feet away from his head. I kept doing it and laughing.

**20 Minutes Later…**

"I'm bored! This movie is boring! Someone should do something cool!" I said while kicking my feet. By now Paul and Seth had joined us in the living room. The boys had decided to watch a movie. I don't know which movie but it was boring. I started ripping up a piece of paper and throwing it and them. It was funny to hit Paul with them because he would glare at me and then look at the TV.

**20 Minutes Later…**

The only ones in the house now were Sam, Jacob, Paul and Embry. It was around 2 o'clock and nothing was happening. I was in my room, I had just finished showering and was attempting at curling my hair. I wanted to go to the beach. I always loved the beach. It was the place that my family went to every summer, I would play with my brother while mom and dad sat and watched and laughed at us. I finally finished with my hair and used a little bit of hair spray to keep the bottom curls. I looked myself over in the mirror. I was in white shorts, a light blue lace tank top, and one of those long vest/jacket things with no sleeves. It was actually sunny and semi-warm for once so I wanted to play the part. It was summer after all.

As I went down stairs I saw Sam talking on the phone to someone. He didn't look too happy so I figured that he was talking to the Cullen's. I wanted to tell him that I knew who they were talking about but I couldn't. After everything that had happened between us, I couldn't betray him like that. I waited patiently for him to get off the phone. Once he put it back on the receiver, he looked at me and sighed.

"Hey Aria. What is it that you need?" he said while sitting at the table with a pop.

"Well… I was wondering if I could go to the beach?" I looked at him with hopeful eyes. He started to say something and it looked like no. I was desperate to get out. "Please Sam? I've only left the house like twice in the past three days! And one of the guys was always with me. please?" I did my signature puppy dog pout. He was starting to agree with me when someone walked in.

"Fine. But Jacob is going with you." He said while looking behind me.

"What?" two voices said at the same time.

"It's that, or you stay here. I'm not risking anyone's life Aria," he said while looking at me.

"What do you mean risking someone's life? I asked.

Sam hesitated but then said, "Nothing. But he's going with you or you're not going at all."

I huffed and pouted, "Fine." I walked to the door and grabbed my blue flip flops. I was out the door when I realized that I didn't really know which way to get to the beach. I started walking in the direction of where I could faintly hear waves crashing against the rocks.

When I reached the beach I was so happy. I ran until I was about ten feet away from the water. I then started spinning in circles like a little kid. I felt so free. I could faintly hear laughing behind me but I didn't care. I looked out at the ocean and sighed. The sun was high in the sky and I could feel the rays hitting my face, the sand underneath my toes, the slight breeze in my hair and the ocean mist hitting my legs. I was so content I didn't want anything to ruin this.

**Jacob's POV**

I was watching her spinning around in circles. She looked so happy. Like she felt connected to the world at that moment. I smiled and chuckled a bit when I saw that she didn't have her shoes on. She looked so beautiful. Her hair was cascading around her face in big loose ringlets. Her jacket was flying around her. I had the sudden urge to go over to her and pick her up and just hold her. _I guess I can't deny it any longer. She's my imprint. No matter what, she'll always be my imprint_ I thought as she stopped spinning and held her arms around her. I slowly walked up behind her and stood next to her. I snuck a look at her and caught her eye. I looked back at the ocean and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry." I said. I didn't want to see her face. I was so scared that she hated me for how I treated her the first two weeks that she was here.

"What are you sorry for? You haven't done anything to me. You've barely spoken to me," she said. It killed me to hear her say that.

"Exactly. I shouldn't have acted like that towards you. I should have tried to be nice, or something. I shouldn't have ignored you like that. And for tha—"

"It's okay. You don't have to be sorry. It's not all your fault. I wasn't exactly trying to hard now was I?" she turned to face me. I reluctantly turned and face her too. It was then that I realized just how short she was. She had to of been at least 5'4"

"Can we start over?" I asked

**Aria's POV**

He looked so sad when he was apologizing. I didn't want to give into the pull that I felt towards him, but it was slowly winning. I knew that if I didn't give in than he wouldn't get hurt. _Maybe we could be friends. And just friends. Until I can talk to someone about this_ I thought as I looked at him.

"Yeah, we can start over. Just none of that reintroducing ourselves okay? I hate that," I told him. He laughed at me. I couldn't believe it! He was laughing at me! "Fine, I see how it is." I was pretending to be mad. He fell for it.

"Wait, I'm sorry I didn't mean to—" he didn't get to finish.

I had pushed him when he wasn't paying attention and he stumbled back a little bit. I booked it. I was about ten feet away from him when I could hear him running to keep up. I took a wide turn to my right to avoid him. We were both laughing. He finally tackled me and we were in the water. I stood up and looked down at my clothes. I was soaked. But it was only the front of me. Jacob was soaked from his stomach down. I giggled. We were standing within a couple of inches of each other. He reached out and put his hand on the back of my neck. My hand instinctively went to hold his wrist. I didn't realize it but we were slowly moving closer to each other. Suddenly a wave came crashing over our legs.

The cold water shook me out of whatever trance I was in. I shook my head and moved away from him. "I'm sorry. I just can't. I'm so sorry," I said. I took off, running away from him and back towards the house. I passed Embry and Jared on my way onto the path that led me back to the house. Once inside I saw Emily first.

"Aria? Oh my, what happened sweetie? Aria wait! Aria!" she said.

I ran up the stairs and into my room. I just wanted to dry off and figure everything out. _Why did I almost let him kiss me? What the hell is going on? Vero Amante isn't meant to do this. It's only supposed to help your powers, which are connected to our emotions_ my thought process was like that all night. I noticed that the winds were acting up. _I can't go down that path again. I won't. No matter what, I won't let myself get hurt all over again, never again._

I sat down on my bed and started thinking of the past. I took out a scrapbook that my friends put together for me a while ago. I looked at the first page. It was of our first performance. Where we all meet and became friends. I flipped to the middle and stopped at a certain page. It was a bunch of pictures of me and a guy. At the top it read:** Aria and Damien, the cutest couple alive**. I wanted to tear that page out of the book. He had hurt me so much. I walked over to the window and looked outside. It had picked up even more. I tried to calm my breathing but I looked out at the tree line and thought that I saw something. I looked closer and could vaguely make out the silhouette of a person, and person with the same body as Damien. The last thing I remembered before passing out from screaming was the eyes that broke my heart.


	8. Chapter 8: One Step At A Time

**Chapter Eight:One Step At A Time**

**Jacob's POV**

**Earlier that night...**

She ran. She just ran away. I don't get it. I don't know what hurts more, the fact that she apologized, or that she rejected me. My _imprint_ rejected me. I looked over in the direction of where she went and saw Embry and Jared staring at me with worried expressions.

"Dude, what happened?" Embry asked once I was standing next to them.

"I don't… know. Everything was fine, we were getting along—"

"We could tell," Jared interrupted with a smirk.

"Anyway, the next thing I know she's running off apologizing. I don't get her!" I said while running my hands through my hair.

"Maybe you should talk to Sam or Emily. They seem to know her better then everyone here," Embry said. He grabbed my shoulder and started pushing me in the direction of Sam's house. "Come on, we're needed for official pack duty stuff."

When we were far enough in the forest where no one could see us we stripped and phased. It felt refreshing to be a wolf again.

"_Finally, does this mean that we can get off of patrol now?" Seth asked._

"_No. Sam said something about wanting you guys to go check with the bloodsuckers to see if anything new has showed up" Jared told him while replaying Sam's message._

I wasn't paying attention. I started to think about what had happened back there. _Where did I screw up?_

"_Do you really want to know the answer to that?" Leah asked me._

"_Not really Leah," I replied._

"_It was the fact that she clearly isn't ready for another relationship. You can tell by how she acts when she's alone with you guys," Leah thought._ I could imagine her smug face.

"_What do you mean?" Embry thought/asked._

"_Well, it's obvious to anyone that she recently got out of a relationship that ended badly, so she doesn't want a new one."_

"_Then how come none of us noticed?" Seth thought to his sister._

"_I meant any female."_ I couldn't hear her thoughts anymore which meant that she phased back to being a human.

"_Seth, go to the leeches and check okay? We'll get the border." I told him._It was times like these when I was glad that I was Beta. We were running the border and the guys were having a stupid conversation when we heard a scream. It wasn't just anyone's scream too. Something in me told me that it was Aria.

"_Come on! Seth stay at the leeches house in case we need to give messages okay?" I told him._

"_Yes boss." Was his answer._

Once we were close to the house, we phased back and pulled our shorts on. I was the first one into the house. I ran upstairs with Embry on my tail. Jared stayed downstairs to make sure that everyone else was okay. When I reached Aria's room I could see Emily and Sam already there. Emily was looking sad and worried. I looked at her. She was passed out on her bed, but she was breathing. Seeing that alone slowed down my heart rate.

"Is she okay?" I asked Sam while moving more into the room.

"Yeah, she seems to have just passed out while looking out her window," he said. He was looking out it to see if he could get a glimpse of what was out there that scared her.

"So, she won't need to go see Dr. Bloodsucker?" Embry asked.

"No, she'll be fine once she wakes up," Sam replied. "There's nothing out there. What would have scared her so much that she fainted?" he mumbled to himself.

"It must have been something. Aria doesn't scream, let alone faint, for just any reason" Emily told us while looking at Aria.

"Umm… we have Seth waiting at their house in case we needed them…" Embry said while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Okay, I'll go tell him to patrol again; I want both of you to rest up. You'll be watching Aria from now on almost 24/7. Paul and Jared will patrol with him," he was talking as he started walking down the stairs. We followed after him and once he left the house we went and sat down on the couch.

"Hey man, do you want me to talk to her? Maybe find out what I can to help you?" Embry asked me. He was looking at my profile. I couldn't decide if I wanted his help or not.

"Yeah man, that'd be great." I told him. When I turned to face him, he was smiling at me. "What?"

"You really like her huh?"

"Well duh, she's my imprint. Of course I like her."

"No, I mean that you like her from watching her. I've seen how when you're both in the room together you sit and watch her, and smile when she does. It's more than just the imprint working here," he told me. I couldn't help but blush a little when he mentioned me watching her. I thought that nobody had noticed that.

"Like what Em? Some mystical magical mumbo jumbo? That stuff doesn't exist," I told him while waving my hand.

"Dude, we're werewolves. Anything could be real. There could be faeries out there trying to put you two together!" He exclaimed.

I raised my eyebrow at him and gave him a look that said 'really?'

"Okay, so maybe not faeries. But I swear it's something else too. Cause the imprint is there, but so is something else. I can almost sense it."

"Okay _Spiderman_. Let's go home and sleep. So tomorrow you can talk to her right?" I asked while looking at him with a hopeful expression.

"Yeah man. And until I find out, or you understand what ever is going on with you two. Just take things slowly. Remember, one step, then the next. Go slow." With that we went our separate ways and headed home.


	9. Chapter 9: Just A Dream

**Chapter Nine:Just A Dream**

**Aria's POV**

**Three Days Later…**

It's been three days since I've passed out. When I woke up everyone was around. It was weird. Let's just say that Emily looked like she was about to cry with relief when I opened my eyes. I haven't left my room since then unless it was to shower or grab food/drinks and bring it back up to my room. I didn't want to see anyone. They would just ask questions. I've been listening to all of my favorite music and thinking. Its two months as of today that Derrieck disappeared.

I was currently sitting at my desk with my keyboard in front of me. The song that he started writing was sitting above it. The song was meant for the National Honor Performance Competition (yes, I did just make that up. So if that is real, than okay). I was selected, along with Emma, Phyl, and Wei-Wei. We were so stocked to go. But then, he just disappeared. I was mad because he was being all secretive and I wasn't happy about it one bit. So I stormed off and went to a party that he had forbidden me to go to. I regret that day more than anything else in my life.

I wiped away my tears when I noticed that they had started to fall. I looked out the window and sighed. It hadn't stopped raining for the past day or two. I jumped when someone knocked on my door.

"Hey Aria. It's Embry. Can I come in?"

"Yeah, come on in," I shouted after I checked my reflection in the mirror to make sure that I didn't have any make-up smudged so it wouldn't look like I was crying. I turned in my swivel chair when I heard the door open. I looked at him, and I could tell that he looked like a nervous wreck.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Nothing, just wanted to make sure that you were okay and everything. I mean, you haven't talked to anyone since before you… ya know, fainted. So… is everything okay?" he asked. He walked over and sat down on my bed. I looked at him and then the door pointedly and he got the hint. He quickly went and shut the door. Once he was seated he looked at me.

"I'm fine really. It was nothing," I reassured him.

"It was not nothing. Nothing couldn't have made you scream and then faint. Was it one of the guys? Did we do something?" he looked very nervous now. Like there was an underlying reason for his questioning me.

"No, no its not you guys. I swear," I said.

"Then what? What aren't you telling us?" he looked desperate to find out what was wrong.

"I just thought that I saw something okay? No big deal. I thought that I saw something out my window in the forest and it freaked me out a bit. No big deal," I told him while stressing the last three words.

"Okay. See it wasn't that hard now was it?" I gave him an 'are-you-kidding-me' look. "So, what was up with you and Jake the other day? You two look pretty cozy there for a second." He was wiggling his eyebrows in a suggestive matter.

"I… it… I don't honestly know! I'm so confused when it comes to him. And I've never had this happen to me before," I told him while looking him in the eye.

"Well… I'm going to be blunt okay?" he asked. I nodded my head. _When isn't he blunt or sarcastic?_ I thought to myself. "I think that you're scared of what you might feel for him."

"What? That is preposterous! I am not afraid of what I feel for Jacob! Where in the world did you get that idea?" I asked him while glaring. _I mean, how could he think that? I don't have any feelings for Jake so therefore, I am not afraid of what I feel for him. Correct?_

"Leah's. And the fact that I saw how fast you ran away from him when you two were at the beach. Why are you so scared?"

"I can't… tell you," I said while looking down.

"Yes you can, you can tell me and I promise not to tell the guys, even Sam and Jake," he said while looking me in the eye. I could tell right then that I could trust him.

"Well, it started with me going out with this guy, Damien. Now, we were so happy together. But one of my guy friends, Matthew, has liked me since eighth grade. He made me promise him one night freshman year, that when Damien and I broke up, that I would go out with him. Damien and I dated from the start of freshman year up until four months ago. Right before school got out. I was drunk when I made that promise, but all of my friends know that I don't back out of any of my promises. No matter what, do you see why I can't have feelings for him?" I asked him.

"No. You can have feelings for Jake, simple as that. You could go out with him too if you really wanted to, you're just choosing not to because you're afraid of hurting your friend's feelings. When in reality, he probably got over you a while ago. But don't worry, I won't tell anyone," he told me while standing up and heading for my door. He looked back at me and gave me a sad half smile. He was almost out the door when he turned around. "Oh yeah, Emily said that she had something for you. Said it was important? I don't really know," he said while shrugging. "Well, see you downstairs."

With that, he left. I sighed. The guys have been trying to get me out of my room for the past two days. Well, everyone except Jacob, I don't know why but it disappointed me a bit. But I knew that Embry was serious from the look on his face. I weighed my options and decided to just go downstairs and see what she had that was '_so important_'. Note the sarcasm.

I slowly made my way downstairs. I'll be completely honest here; I'm scared to find out what lies for me downstairs. I knew that I didn't look good. I was in old light wash jeans that holes in the knees, a short sleeve t-shirt that had my old high school's dance team's logo on it, and my brother's old football sweatshirt. I slowed when I reached the bottom of the stairs. I was listening for Emily's voice when I heard it in the kitchen. _Of course, she's always in the kitchen. With how much these boys eat_ I thought to myself.

I peered into the doorway and found only a few of the guys in there. I could hear the rest of them in the living room watching TV. Sam noticed me and smiled softly at me. I ignored it and looked at Emily's back before speaking, "You needed me Emily?"

"Oh, yes I did. I didn't think that you would come downstairs though." She smiled at me and reached onto the counter where she kept all of the mail that we got. "This is for you. It's a letter." She told me as she handed me a sealed envelope. "You might want to read it now," she said while turning back to the stove and turning it off. I could vaguely hear her herding all of the guys into the living room and then sitting down. I sat down at the table and looked at the back of the envelope. My name was written in a familiar script, but I couldn't place where I had seen it. I slowly opened the letter and unfolded it. I read the first line and I felt my heart swell and tears gather in my eyes. (I suggest listening to Someone's Watching Over Me by Hilary Duff when reading the letter, it really sets the mood.)

**_Aria, __  
__My dear sister, if you are reading this then it means that something has happened to me. However, I'm hoping that it's not the case. I want you to know that I love you. I love you with all of my heart, and nothing will ever change that. You are my little sister and I'm so proud of everything that you have ever done. You've proven yourself to me and the world time and time again. I'm so happy that you chose to live with me instead of grandpa. I never expected my sister, let alone my whole family tree to have been connected to these warrior ladies who have these magical powers that they protect the world with. But I would never trade any of that for a normal sister.__  
__I need you to keep an open mind now. I gave Emily custody over you because I knew that she would be able to handle you and your powers. And I had a feeling that you would be finding everything that you need over in La Push, Washington. I have explained my reasons to Emily and Momma Odie also. So they know why I chose this for you. So please don't be upset because I know that the girls and Jordan will be able to visit you whenever you want them too.__  
__And this is the one place where I know that you will be able to get over Damien. And you need to do just that. Let him go, let go of all of the hate that he has caused to live in your heart. You are better than that. I know that he hurt. I know that he cheated on you with Mariah, and called you a slut for getting pregnant with his baby. But you need to get past all of that, and see what's right in front of your eyes. I know that somewhere in your heart you will always love him, but he needs to be out of your life. You have to fight him and win. If you don't than you'll only end up hurt even worse than before.__  
__I know that everyone had probably already told you this but, you are much stronger than you believe. Not just with your powers, mentally too. You are one of the strongest people that I know. You never let anyone tell you what to do, or how to act. And you are always there for your friends. When the time comes, you'll know what to do with my gift to you. And my gift is the song. The one that I'm writing for that competition, well I have a feeling that you'll need it for something else too.__  
__Remember that I love you and I always will. And I'm always with you. The same way that mom and dad are always with you. In your heart and music.__  
__I also want you to finish the song, if it's not finished by the time that you get this letter. Because I know that you won't unless I tell you that you can. Be strong and remember all of the happy times in your life. You're not alone.__  
__Love,__  
__Your brother__  
__A.K.A. Derrieck_**

I was crying before I reached the end of the first paragraph. I was mad and happy. I dropped the letter and sprinted out the front door. I didn't care that it was raining, or that I didn't have any shoes on. I just needed to get away. It felt like five seconds when I reached a cliff where I could see the waves thrashing against the rocks and lightening in the sky. I was so mad and soaked to the bone. Everywhere I looked there was rain and sadness and hurt and emptiness. Everything that I felt was being reflected in the weather. I looked up at the sky and I started to cry harder. When I tried to look back at the forest I couldn't see anything that was more than a foot in front of me. I turned back to the ocean and screamed. I balled my hands into fists and screamed louder.

"WHY? WHY DID YOU LEAVE? YOU PROMISED THAT YOU WOULD BE HERE! THAT YOU WOULD BE HERE THROUGHOUT EVERYTHING WITH ME! YOU LIED. YOU BROKE YOUR PROMISE! YOU PROMISED NOT TO LEAVE ME LIKE MOM AND DAD DID! WHY COULDN'T YOU KEEP YOUR PROMISE? I HATE YOU! YOU LEFT ME ALONE WITH NO ONE TO LISTEN OR CARE ABOUT ME!" I screamed into the ocean. The wind was whipping my wet hair all around me. I could feel a disturbance in the natural balance of things but I didn't care. I kept screaming all of my hatred and pain until it felt like I couldn't breathe anymore. "I need you," I whispered into the night.

I was so preoccupied with my screaming that I didn't notice two strong warm arms wrap themselves around me and pull me away from the edge. I felt safety and comfort coming from these arms. I didn't question whose they were; I just buried my head into their chest and cried while cursing my brother for leaving me alone halfway around the country.


	10. Chapter 10: So Small

**Chapter Ten: So Small**

**Jacob's POV**

After Emily shooed everyone out of the kitchen we were all settled near each other. I was closest to the door just in case she needed me. Everyone was restless.

"Who was the letter from Emily?" Jared asked her when he thought that Aria wouldn't be able to hear him. _She's probably too occupied to be listening in on our conversations_ I said to myself so that way I wouldn't get hit.

"Her brother. The night that she came here, Momma Odie gave me two letters. One for me, and the other for her. In mine it told me to give her that letter whenever I felt the time was right," she said while huddling into Sam's arms.

We could softly hear her crying from the kitchen, well, everyone except Emily because she wasn't a werewolf. I wanted to run in there and hold her, just comfort her to stop the pain that was causing her to cry.

"What do you think it says?" Seth asked quietly while glancing at door.

"It probably says that he loves her, and he's sorry for what has happened," Sam said while shrugging his shoulders. He knew Derrieck, not as well as Emily, but they had apparently met a few times. So his guess was better than any of ours.

It was quiet as we waited for her to come out of the kitchen. Everyone was starting to worry about her when she suddenly bolted through the kitchen door and out the front door. I immediately ran after her before anyone, mainly Sam, could tell me to stop. I followed her out the door and into the forest. As soon as I left the cover that the porch had provided I was pelted with rain. If it wasn't for my unnatural heat I probably would have felt like a Popsicle. I could faintly hear thunder above the sound of the rain. I took off in the direction that her scent was the strongest. I was following her as a human because I could keep us with her easily enough as one and I didn't want to frighten her if she saw me as a wolf. I tried to stay somewhat behind her so I could see what she was doing. I broke through the tree line and arrived at the cliff where me and the guys sometimes cliff dice from. _What is she doing here? How did she even know about this place?_ I thought as I saw her ball her hands into fists. She started screaming. And she kept screaming until it looked like she couldn't breathe, the whole time that she as screaming I slowly walked right behind her.

I could faintly hear her whisper, "I need you". Hearing that broke my heart. I wrapped my arms around her and held her. She didn't seem to mind; instead she turned and buried her head into my chest as she kept whispering words of pain and false hatred to someone. I assumed it was her brother.

I slowly picked her up and moved us under the cover of the trees. She was still whispering and quivering when we reached a giant tree the clouded us from most of the rain. I ran my hands through her hair that was stuck to her face. I looked down at her and my heart broke. She was quivering, and her hands were balled into fists that rested on my chest.

Once she calmed down enough to think clearly, she slowly lifted her head.

**Aria's POV**

Once I had calmed down some, I realized that I couldn't feel the rain anymore. At first I thought I was dead until I realized that I leaning against someone's chest. I lifted my head to see Jacob. I was so confused. _Why is he out here? Why would he come after me?_ I thought to myself before I found my voice. "Jacob? What are you doing? Why are you out here?"

"I couldn't let you just run off like that. You could have died! You almost did!" he said. The look on his face touched me. He looked, concerned and worried; like he genuinely cared about me.

"You didn't have to come after me…" I mumbled.

"It's okay, I don't mind. Can I ask you a question?" he looked nervous now and scared. Almost like if he asked me this that something bad might happen.

"Sure, I guess. I mean… I don't mind," I said quietly. _Great! I'm nervous now. I don't like this one bit, I'm not meant to be nervous!_ I thought to myself.

"Are you okay? You seemed so mad and upset when you stormed through the house to come out here and scream…" He trailed off while moving one of his arms from around me to scratch the back of his neck.

"Yeah I am… sorry I just had to get that out of my system. Ya know?" I asked him while laughing pathetically at the end.

He wiped away a tear that I didn't mean to let escape. "It's okay if you're not alright. After everything you've been through, it okay to not be okay," he said.

Oddly enough… that made perfect sense. And I broke. After seeing the look on his face and the concern in his voice, I broke.

"I'm not okay. Not at all. I miss my brother and my friends. And I'm going crazy! I keep thinking that I'm getting stalked by my ex-boyfriend and cyber stalked by a guy who wants to be my next boyfriend! But I don't even like him. And I was doing perfectly fine until I read that letter. I'm just so mad at my brother for leaving me alone! He promised me that he would never leave me. I mean he practically raised me since I was twelve! I mean, he didn't even go to college because of me! He took online classes and still took care of me! How could he leave me? How Jacob? How?"

He didn't answer me. Instead he pulled me back onto his lap and let me cry my eyes out onto his already soaked shirt. We stayed like that until I finally calmed down again. I pulled my head back and looked at him. He smiled softly at me and I smiled back.

"What did you mean that you think that your ex is stalking you?" he asked me. _Oh boy_ I thought, _great, me and my big mouth just had to blurt that out!_

"Oh, uh…nothing, I just have an overactive imagination that's all," I said pathetically. I looked behind him and thought that I saw movement, but I guess that I was wrong.

"So are you okay to walk by yourself? Or should I carry you?" I could tell that he was teasing me, trying to make me feel better.

"I can walk thanks." I smiled at the end to let him know that I was okay.

"You know, whatever happened back east. It's not your fault," it had been silent for about five minutes when he suddenly said that.

"What?" I asked him.

"It's not your fault. Whatever happened, everything bad. It's not your fault, so you shouldn't blame yourself for it," he said. He gave me a small smile.

It made sense. I mean everything that had happened with Derrieck, the girls, Damien, hell even Mariah! None of it was my fault. I couldn't stop Damien from cheating on me with her, or for blaming our baby on being someone else's.

I smiled at him, "Thanks Jacob."

"Jake." He corrected me.

"Huh?" I asked.

"If we're going to be friends, then you're going to have to call me Jake. It's what all of my friends call me," he said while shrugging. "You do know that Sam and the guys will have gone out looking for us by now?" I just nodded. I had figured it. We were quiet for a while. It wasn't a bad quiet, or awkward. I heard a twig snap and saw Jake look over in that direction. We had both stopped walking by now. I heard another one snap and I turned my body in the direction of the noise. My breathing started to freak out when I saw a shadow of a person. I stepped closer to Jake and could feel his hand grab mine.

I gasped when I got a good look at the person. It was Damien. He still looked the same. He was tall, not as tall as Jake or Sam or the others but still tall, standing at 5'11" with spiked black hair, wearing a white t-shirt that was tucked into his jeans with his signature black leather jacket over it all. His eyes were still cold to anyone who looked at them, anyone except me. His eyes turned away from Jake and looked me head on. I couldn't look away. I saw longing, guilt, sadness, and anger, but there was love hidden that I don't think that he would want me to see.

"Hello Aria. It's so nice to finally catch up to you," I shivered at his voice. It wasn't the warm pleasant tone that he had always used with me. It was different, cold, detached. His eyes turned to look at Jake. "Awe, who's this boy? Are you trying to replace me so soon?"

"How'd you find me?" I knew his game. If I could keep his attention away from Jake then he wouldn't get hurt, or worse, killed. I could heal probably heal from whatever he threw at me, but I knew that Jake couldn't.

"Oh, well that's an easy question to answer. I mean, look around you. Look at what you're doing. And the fact that you've been practicing too," he said with a smirk.

"What do you mean 'look at what she's doing'? What is she doing?" Jake asked. He looked confused. I couldn't let Damien tell him cause then my secret is blown.

"Nothing. I'm not doing anything," I said to him as I turned to face him. I whispered so that way I knew for a fact that only Jacob would be able to hear me. "When I tell you to, run. Run for the guys and get help, but you have to keep running and not ask me questions okay?"

He hesitated for a second. "Trust me," I pleaded with him. "I know his game just trust me. Please."

He nodded his head slightly and I turned back around to face Damien. I saw a look of murder in his eyes and I could only guess what was to come next. I had seen him do it to countless demons and criminals, but never to me.

"So, is he your boyfriend?" he sneered at me. I could see his plasma ball start to form in his hand.

"No, I don't have a boyfriend Damien. I've been single since we broke up." I could tell that Jake was confused but I had to get him out of here. The ball was growing bigger, and so was my fear. "Go, now. Run!" I said to Jake as I pushed him. He started running and tried to pull me along. I turned around quickly and looked back at Damien. He was smirking while casually walking towards us.

Jacob pulled my hand and we started running, fast too. "So what was that all about? And what the hell was in his hands?" he asked me.

I snuck a look at him and said, "Later. I promise. We just have to get away from him. And back to the house."

I heard a sound coming from beside me and suddenly Damien was in front of me.

"That wasn't too nice sweetie. You shouldn't run away from an old friend. Who knows what might happen if you do," he sneered at me. I knew that he was about to launch his attack. I couldn't use my powers. I was too emotional and I didn't want to risk Jake finding out me and thinking that I was a freak.

"Don't hurt him. He doesn't know anything. Please," I pleaded with him. If I couldn't get out of this alive then at least I could get Jake out alive.

Damien just smiled at me. Suddenly I was pulled away from him and back behind a bunch of trees. We started running again. I heard a tree fall not too far behind us. We started sprinting. I looked behind us and I saw him running right after us. Right through the trees too. We kept running, I had no clue where we were going but Jacob seemed to know so I followed him. I saw a plasma ball hit a tree that was right beside us. We kept running, I could faintly hear howling over our rugged breaths. I turned and saw that Damien had thrown one of his plasma balls right at Jacob. Instinctively I pushed him out of the way and I felt it hit my back. I fell to the floor and the only thing that I could see or hear was Jacob worrying over me and more howling. My world faded into the dark and I couldn't feel any of the air around. I was disconnected to the world, my people and possibly my powers.


	11. Chapter 11: We'll Be A Dream

**Chapter Eleven: We'll Be A Dream**

**Aria's POV **(Unconscious)

_I was turning the corner of my school, trying to get to class on time when I bumped into someone. All of our stuff went tumbling to the ground._

"_Oh my gosh! I am so sorry. I am such a klutz I swear," I said as I was picking up my books and standing up._

"_No, it was my entire fault. Sorry. I haven't figured my way around yet," the stranger said. I looked up at him and I couldn't believe it. He was hot. He had to be at least 5'10", with dark hair and the nicest blue eyes that you could ever imagine._

"_It's okay. I haven't seen you around here before. Are you new?" I asked him. He handed me back my psychology book with a smirk._

"_Yeah. My names Damien. Damien Matthews. And who are you?" he asked while shaking my hand._

"_I'm __Aria VanDer Pol. What's your first class, maybe I can help?" I asked him._

* * *

_I was in the cafeteria heading towards my normal lunch table where my four best friends sat. Damien was walking with me and we were laughing. I could see the question looks in my friends' eyes as I arrived with him._

"_Hey guys this is Damien Matthews, he's new. Damien, I would like you to meet my friends; Phyleesha Larson, Wei-Wei Diener, Mariah Morse, and Emma Odie," I said as I pointed out each person with the right name._

"_So…Damien right? Care to tell us how you know our Miss Aria here?" Phyleesha said while leaning forward and held her fist out to act like it was a microphone._

"_We kind of… ran into each other this morning while trying to find our classes. She has been kind enough to show me around the school so I won't get lost." He said._

* * *

_I was watching a movie at my house; my brother was asleep in his room. It was only 7:00pm, when someone knocked on my front door. I got and went to answer it. As I opened the door I was in for a surprise._

"_Damien? What are you doing here?" it had been about three months since I had met him, I had given up with my crush on him. I could tell that he didn't like me like that._

"_Well, I know that it is kind of late. And I'm sorry for bugging you at home but I just had to know. And I couldn't wait any longer," he said in one breath. I looked at him funny._

"_What are you talking about?"_

"_Will you go out with me? Like on a date? Maybe to the fair this weekend?" he looked so nervous. It was so cute that I just couldn't say no to him._

"_Sure. I'd love to go to the fair with you," I said with a smile. He looked so relieved. He smiled at me one more time before turning to leave._

"_I'll pick you up Friday at seven okay?"_

"_Yeah okay!"_

* * *

_Me and Damien were hanging out at the park. It was our favorite place to be. We had been going out for a little over one year. We were both in our sophomore year of high school. We were just sitting together smiling._

"_Do you remember at the end of last year when Phyleesha started that food fight to signal that school was out?" he asked me._

_I started laughing. "Of course I remember. She hit Mariah in the face with Matt's old pudding that he found in his locker. It was so funny when she screamed like a little girl!"_

_We were both laughing now. I smiled and leaned back against his chest._

"_I'm sorry that you two aren't friends anymore," he whispered into my ear._

"_It's alright. Not like it's your fault that she can't handle the fact that you don't like her like that." I said while shrugging my shoulders. I looked back at him and smiled. He smiled at me and leaned down to kiss me._

* * *

_I was walking around the forest that was behind the school. No one ever went in there besides Phyl, Emma, Wei and I. Of course we only went in there because of our powers, which made us the Guardians of the Elements. I had no clue why but there was a disturbance in the woods and we were sent to check it out; to see if it was a demon that we would have to take care of or not. We were currently circling it. Emma was in the trees, while Phyl, Wei and I were on the ground closing in. when we got to the spot where the demon was meant to be all we saw was Damien. I couldn't believe it. The demon that we were meant to take out was my boyfriend!_

"_Damien?" I asked as I came out of the woods with my swords drawn by my side. I signaled for the others to come out slowly. Phyleesha came out with her flaming sword, Wei Wei came out from behind him with her staff raised, and Emma jumped to the front to of a tree branch with her bow and arrow raised at probably aimed at his heart._

"_Aria? Is that you?" he asked me._

"_You're a demon? Wow, you sure know how to pick 'em A," Phyleesha said to me while laughing._

"_Look, I can explain! I'm not like other demons. I don't hurt people. That's why my parents and I moved here," he said with his hands raised._

"_Just keep them where we can see them demon," Emma said._

"_Hold your fire! Hey Phyl, is he telling the truth?" I asked._

"_Yeah, his hearts clean," she said while nodding and slowly lowering her sword._

"_Okay, we'll let you live. As long as you stay true to your word," I told him while turning around._

* * *

_I was having a house party while Derrieck was away and was wondering around looking for Damien. We had been going out for almost two full years. It was March of my junior year. It was right around the equinox too. I was heading upstairs towards my room. When I turned the corner I wished that I hadn't. I saw him and Mariah, making out with their hands under each other's clothes. I turned around and ran down the stairs. I found Wei-Wei first and I couldn't control it anymore. I cried on her shoulder. I somehow managed to tell her what had happened. She found Phyleesha and Emma and had managed to get everyone out with Phyleesha's help. I broke up with Damien the next day._

"_No guy's I swear it's like he's stalking me. I think that he's obsessed or something."_

"_Of course he is. Mariah doesn't want anything to do with him since you two are over. It only makes logical sense," Wei-Wei said._

"_Thank you Wei-Wei. Wait… did you guys hear that?" I asked. We were currently out in the woods again walking; I guess you could say patrolling to make sure that Damien hasn't hurt anybody. Suddenly a plasma ball was hurled right in our direction._

"_We're under attack! Phase A! Phase A!" Emma screamed as we all got into our position._

_Suddenly…The visions stopped. I didn't understand the point of them. It was reruns of my most famous times with Damien. None of it made sense. I slowly slipped back into the black but I could faintly hear people talking around me, and I could feel the air shifting and moving around my body to help me heal faster._


	12. Chapter 12: Again

**Chapter Twelve:Again**

**Jacob's POV** (Takes place right after Chapter Ten)

I felt something push me to the side and when I turned my head to look I saw Aria get hit with a bright blue ball. I stopped running and turned around to face the guy chasing us. I kneeled by her body and was trying not to touch her back and not phase at the same time. I saw most of the guys running after him in their wolf forms. Sam came out and kneeled next to me. The ball didn't hit her back as much as the right side of her body. Her shirt was scorched and you could see the light burns starting to form on her side.

"We have to get her to the Cullen's," Sam said softly while putting his hand on my shoulder.

I growled when he said that. I did not want my imprint near the leeches.

"They are the only ones who will treat her and believe whatever story you're going to say and you know that," he reasoned with me.

"Fine," I said tightly.

I gently picked her up with her right side facing away from me. I looked down at her. We started running with Embry, Jared, and Paul surrounding us for safety. I knew that Quil, Seth, Leah, Colin, and Brady were still chasing after him and would meet us at the Cullen's. It surprised me to find that we had run very close to the Cullen's house. As soon as we got there the door opened and Carlisle walked out and grabbed Aria from my arms and took her back into the house at his vampire speed. Esme came out side and ushered all of the guys into the house.

Sam and Embry pushed me into the house. I still couldn't get the memory of what had just happened out of my mind. I could vaguely hear Sam telling Edward and Jasper what had happened. I figured that Edward would be able to see it from my mind, but I didn't care.

"Is she going to be alright?" I asked no one in particular.

"You'll have to ask Carlisle when he comes back out. From what I saw, she might make it," Edward said while looking at me.

I growled at him saying that she might not make it. I was already on edge from being attacked by that _Damien_ guy. It was silent for a minute until Carlisle shouted, "Edward! I need help she's crashing!"

I couldn't control myself; I followed him with Sam and Embry hot on my heels. I could hear the flat line signaling that her heart wasn't beating. I looked into the room and I couldn't believe my eyes. There were tubes connecting everywhere, her arms, legs, and her shirt was thrown off so she was left in her pants and her bra. You could see the burn on her right side, right where her ribs were. It was in a spastic pattern. Finally her heart started beating again. I left out a breath that I didn't know I was holding. It was quiet again. I could tell that all of the guys were hurting by seeing her like this. Carlisle had Edward hold her up so he could look at her back and I saw what looked like a tattoo on her lower back. I think that he noticed it too because he looked at it for a minute or two before he told the leech that he could stop touching her.

"Okay. If we could please move into the living room that would be best," Carlisle said while gesturing with his hands. We obeyed and slowly walked into the living where all of the leeches and the pack were.

"So Jacob, what exactly happened?" Everyone turned to look at me. I wasn't paying attention I still had the look of her hooked up to all of those tubes in my head. Embry nudged me and I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I saw Edward smirk. He must have figured it out by now, that she was my imprint. At those thoughts he just nodded his head the slightest bit. I sighed and looked at everyone. It was going to be a long night.

By the time that I was done explaining what happened the leeches seemed to have some sort of epiphany.

"It makes total sense now. The reason why we can't smell him or catch him is because we've never come up against someone like this. And his target…" Jasper trailed off while looking in the direction of the room Aria was in. Sam came back out from the kitchen and looked at all of us.

"I talked to Emily. She said that she's going to call Jordan and let him know what happened. She's hoping that Aria's friends will be able to help us somehow," Sam informed all of us.

"What I don't get… is why he shot at you Jacob?" Bella said while looking puzzled.

"He said something about me being her boyfriend and then he started freaking out." I explained why shrugging. "I don't honestly know."

"So his name is Damien? And he can shoot out these lightening balls? Is that correct?" Sam said while looking at me. I nodded my head.

"She wasn't hit with lightening," Carlisle said when he walked out of Aria's room. "It was plasma. Much more dangerous. She should wake up at any time. Her body just went into a shutdown mode to deal with the healing. Which is going quit fast I must say."

"So… what do we do?" I asked him as everyone was looking in between me and him.

"We have to wait for her to wake up. Only then will we be able to find out what happened and who he was," he said.

"Any idea on when that will be?" Embry asked him. I knew that this was eating him alive. He and Aria have gotten close in the time that she's been here.

"I don't know." He looked sad.

**The Next Day…**

The Cullen's had been kind enough to let us stay here and see if she was okay. We went home and once all of us had had breakfast we came straight here. There was a slight change. She was responding to light and sounds. I was sitting by her bed side holding her hand. Sam had gotten news that Aria's friends were on their way over here. It turns out that they were close to here too. They were in Oregon for some competition thing. I don't really care. I was trying to coax her out of her coma state.

"You need to wake up. You need to be better so we can find this Damien guy and kill him. Or at least hurt him." I put my head down next to her side and closed my eyes. I didn't realize it but I must have drifted off to sleep.

**Aria's POV**

I could feel someone holding my hand, and some faint voices. I opened my eyes I realized that I was in a white room. My instincts kicked in. I looked to my side and saw that there was no one on either side of me. I slowly used my powers to lift all of the tubes and white suction thingy's off of my body and placed them on the bed. I slowly moved out of the bed and noticed that I was in a pair of sweats and a sports bra. I slowly made my way towards the door. I looked out and saw that the coast was clear. I saw a front door and made my way towards it.

"Hey! You shouldn't be out of bed!" Someone yelled at me.

I turned around and saw that it was a buff guy. Not buff like the Jake and Embry, but still big. He was tall too, at least Damien's height with really short black hair. I took my chance and started sprinting towards the door. I felt him grab my arm. I quickly pushed my left foot back and caught one of his feet while I used his momentum and own body weight against him as I put the arm that he grabbed into his stomach and pushed while he rolled over my back and landed on the floor. I ended up in a defensive position with my arms braced in front of me and my legs shoulder width apart.

"Aria! Oh my god, are you okay?" I turned around to find the voice and saw that it Sam and the boys with the three men that came to talk to him that one night with four women behind them. I noticed that the guy that I flipped tried to get up. I put my foot on his stomach and pushed him back down.

"Don't move," I ordered him. He put his hands up in an 'I surrender' motion and stayed on the ground. He looked more amused that I was ordering him around than anything else.

I saw Sam and Jake run to me. "Are you okay?" Jake asked me when he got to me. I finally noticed that my ribs and part of my stomach was wrapped up in white bandages that go all the way across one's body.

"Yeah I'm fine. Why? And where are we?" I asked him.

"You are in my house. I'm the doctor that took care of you. And if you would be so kind as to let my son up off of the floor," the man who I recognized as Dr. Cullen said to me.

I muttered an 'oops' and moved my foot off of him. "Sorry," I mumbled as he passed me. "So… what happened to me?" I asked the guys as I looked at all of them. No one said a word. They were all staring at either me or my bandages. _Can you say awkward?_ I thought to myself.


	13. Chapter 13: Dancing

**Chapter Thirteen:Dancing**

**Aria's POV**

I was sitting up on the bed that I had woken up on, with Dr. Cullen re-wrapping my ribs. I snuck a look at them from the mirror that was across the room. It was a round pattern, but not perfectly circular. It would heal, that much I knew for sure. I glanced around the room looking at everyone who was in here. Besides Dr. Cullen and myself, there were seven people in the room too. I was suddenly glad that it was a pretty big bedroom. It wasn't too awkward in the room, but it was still awkward. Edward, Alice, and Emmett (the guy that I flipped and had pinned to the floor) were by the door; while Sam, Jacob, Embry, and Paul where over by the windows with the curtains drawn.

I looked over at Sam and them and saw Embry and Paul making faces at each other. I couldn't help but giggle a bit at the faces they were making. Sam started glaring at them and they stopped. I turned my head and saw that Edward was quietly talking to Alice and Emmett. I couldn't hear what he was saying though.

"So, Aria," Dr. Cullen said.

"Yes?" I answered while turning to look back at him.

"Have you ever had to take care of bandages like these before?" he asked.

I thought back, trying to remember if I had to or not. I smiled and said, "Yeah, once or twice before."

I could see Jacob turn to look at me again through the corner of my eye. His eyes held worry. I turned my focus back to Dr. Cullen. He smiled kindly at me.

"Good, so I don't have to warn you about getting the bandages wet or ripped do I?"

"Nope," I said while popping the 'p'. "So, when can I go back to Sam's?" I asked him.

He looked at Sam and saw him nod his head. "Later today, once I make sure that everything is okay and operational."

"Sam, I would like to discuss some things with you and Jacob for a minute or two downstairs, if you don't mind," Dr. Cullen said smiling.

"Of course," he answered and started walking toward the door with Jacob following. I noticed that Edward, Alice and Emmett had left too.

I looked at Embry and Paul with a questioning look. "That was odd," I said to them at I looked at them. Only Embry nodded though, it was almost as if Paul was off in his own little world. Embry waved his hand in front of his face but it did nothing. I tried his name a few times but it didn't work either. After five minutes he walked out of the room while giving Embry a look. Embry then came over and sat next to me on the bed.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Nothing, well, actually something. I guess. I'm not too sure," he rambled.

"Embry! Just tell me whatever it is that you have to say."

He looked me in the eyes and asked, "Do you know who saved you? Who got you here?"

I shook my head no, so he continued. "Jake did. He brought you here against his will to save you."

My jaw dropped. I couldn't believe it, I knew that he didn't like the Cullen's but I never thought that he would be the one to bring me to them. "Why are you telling me?"

"I just thought that you would like to know. Give him a shot okay?"

He got up and walking out of the room. I sat on the bed thinking. I was currently wear black sweat pants, which looked to be Sam's or one of the other boys and a matching black sports bra. The same thing kept repeating in my head. _Give him a shot okay?_ Could I give him a shot? I mean, right now wasn't the best time for a relationship especially with what just happened with Damien. I groaned and covered my face with my hands. I looked at myself in the mirror one more time before I decided to head down stairs. I slowly walked down the stairs and saw that all of the Cullen's were in the dining room talking to Sam and the guys. I just stared over at them. Slowly the guys started noticing me but I put my finger to my lips to tell them to be quiet. Sam still hadn't noticed me so I quietly walked up behind where he was sitting and stood there. When he finally turned around he jumped a bit and everyone laughed at him. I gave him one of my cheeky smiles and he just glared.

"So, Aria…" Someone said. I looked to see who said it and discovered it to have been Emmett.

"Yes Emmett?" I asked.

"A little birdie told us that you can play the piano and sing…" he trailed off while rolling his wrist as if he were to have been talking about the weather. The first person that immediately I look at is Quil, because I know that he can't keep his mouth shut and all of the guys know about me playing.

"Hey! It wasn't me so stop lookin' at me like that!" Quil yelled at me.

"Would you play for us?" Esme asked me. I looked at her. I wanted to say no, but she was so kind.

"I don't play anymore. I'm sorry—" I was interrupted by Alice coming over and grabbing my arm and leading me over towards the piano.

"Oh, come one. Please? Just one song?" She looked at me with these big eyes that it was so hard to say no to. I caved. I nodded my head and she squealed while I started walking over to the piano.

I sat down on the bench and moved the piano cover. I looked at the keys and held my fingers above them. I didn't know what song I wanted to perform. Jacob came and sat down next to me.

He leaned close to my ear and whispered, "Just do any song that you feel comfortable with okay? You don't have to do something to impress anyone."

I could feel his hand hovering over the small of my back. I sighed and looked at him and gave him a small smile in thanks. I moved my fingers over the keys. And they slowly started to play the intro to 'Dancing' By Elisa. I hadn't played this song since before my mom died. It started off slow, but steadily grew until I was in the music.

_Time is gonna take my mind__  
__and carry it far away where I can fly__  
__The depth of life will dim my temptation to live for you__  
__If I were to be alone silence would rock my tears__  
__'cause it's all about love and I know better__  
__How life is a waving feather_

_So I put my arms around you around you__  
__And I know that I'll be leaving soon_

_My eyes are on you they're on you__  
__And you see that I can't stop shaking__  
__No, I won't step back but I'll look down to hide from your eyes__  
__'cause what I feel is so sweet and I'm scared that even my own breath__  
__Oh could burst it if it were a bubble__  
__And I'd better dream if I have to struggle_

_So I put my arms around you around you__  
__And I hope that I will do no wrong__  
__My eyes are on you they're on you__  
__And I hope that you won't hurt me_

_I'm dancing in the room as if I was in the woods with you__  
__No need for anything but music__  
__Music's the reason why I know time still exists__  
__Time still exists__  
__Time still exists__  
__Time still exists_

_So I put my arms around you around you__  
__And I hope that I will do no wrong__  
__My eyes are on you they're on you__  
__And I hope that you won't hurt me__  
__So I put my arms around you around you__  
__And I hope that I will do no wrong__  
__My eyes are on you they're on you__  
__And I hope that you won't hurt me_

After the music slowed down to a stop, everyone started clapping. I turned to look at them and as my eyes went past the doorway I saw three people standing there. My jaw dropped. I completely forgot about the Cullen's and the guys and couldn't believe it. The only thing that left my mouth was,

"Oh. My. God."


	14. Chapter 14: Shark In The Water

**Chapter Fourteen:Shark In The Water**

**Aria's POV**

I was looking at the three people closely; you could tell that they were girls. The one on the left was tan, with wavy/curly light brown hair that went down to her shoulders with bangs that swept towards her right eye. She was short. Only around 5 foot tall without heels on. She was wearing a blue one shoulder top with light wash skinny jeans and wedges on her feet. The girl in the middle was African American with dark brown hair that was in curls that hit her shoulder. She was of average height, which made her about 5'6" or so. She was in a green t-shirt with a tree and a little man on it with boot-cut jeans and green DC shoes. The last one was also a girl. She was pale, with fiery red hair that was straight and it reached right past her shoulders. She was as tall as the girl in the middle. She was also wearing jeans and sneakers but she had on a white shirt with red sleeves that red 'Dude's Record Store. It Rocks!'

Slowly they started walking towards me. I stood up and was going to meet them halfway but Jacob put his arm out and stopped me. I looked up at him and then tried to get around him but he wasn't letting me.

"Jake it's okay I know them," I whispered to him as I moved my hand back to his arm.

"How do you know that they are who you think they are?" he whispered to me.

"Trust me, I'll be able to tell if they aren't" I replied.

I could see the red head smirking at me. I looked back at Jacob and he seemed to be struggling with letting me go or not but he dropped his arm. I started walking towards the girls and when we were all standing in front of each other I realized that we were also standing in front of the Cullen's and the guys. We were staring at each other.

I gave each of them a look and asked, "Well? Are you who I believe you are?"

The one in the middle smirked at me and turned around as she pushed down her jeans a bit and lifted up her shirt to show me her lower back. I saw a tattoo. It was the one thing that each of us had that connected us to each other besides our friendship. When she turned around I smiled at her and pulled her into a hug.

"Oh Em! I missed you so much!" I said. Then I switched to the other two. "Wei-Wei! Phyl! I missed you guys too!"

"Yeah you're lucky that we found this place. If it wasn't for Emma driving then we never would have." Phyleesha said. I looked at Emma and she just shrugged her shoulder.

"Oh my god, what happened?" Wei-Wei asked when we pulled away from each other.

"It's nothing, I'm fine," I smiled at them.

"That's not nothing A, that is most definitely something that looks like it hurts." Em said to me while gesturing to my right side.

"I'll fill you in on anything that you want to know later okay?" I asked all three of them. Satisfied with that answer they all nodded their heads.

We heard someone clear their throat and turned to see Sam and Dr. Cullen standing there with everyone else with questioning faces.

"Oh right, sorry. Everyone this is Wei-Wei Diener (short tan one), Emma Odie (African-American), and Phyleesha Larson (the red head). Girls, this is Dr. Cullen and his family; Esme, Edward, Alice, Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie, and Bella. And this is Sam and the boys; Jacob, Jared, Paul, Seth, Quil, and Embry. You'll meet the other three later. Did you get all that?" I asked as I looked at the girls.

They nodded their heads. I could see Phyl smirking and I knew that something was bad. I stared at her until she looked at me and then slightly shook my head 'no' at her. She rolled her eyes and looked away.

"So… these are your friends from back home?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, we've been friends for forever. Probably since you hit puberty," Phyl remarked back at him.

Everyone had a shocked look on their faces. "Phyleesha!" Em, Wei-Wei and myself scolded. She just shrunk back a bit.

"Not to be rude but how did you ladies find our house exactly?" Dr. Cullen asked them. Edward was staring at them intently. Almost as if he was trying to gage all of our secrets.

"I'm very good with maps and directions. And Emily was able to give us some pretty good directions toward your houses general area… it was pretty easy to find after that," Emmerson answered.

The Cullen's looked a bit skeptical of her answer. Sam and the boys seemed to not care as much. _Hmmm…This will be interesting_ I thought to myself.

**Later That Night!**

"So, where is everyone?" Wei asked as she sat down at the kitchen table. They had already grilled me on what happened to my side.

"Emily and Sam went on a date, and she told the boys that they aren't allowed to be here unless her or Sam are here too. So I don't know where the boys are." I said while shrugging.

"There's something off about this place," Emma said as she was eating some yogurt. We all looked at her.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"When we went to pick you up at the Cullen's' house, I only got seven energy reading. Not including your's. And they were the boys with the outrageous fever. I got nothing from the doctor and his 'family'" she said, she even made the quotation marks with her fingers.

"I agree with Emma on this one A. There's something weird going on here," Phyl said.

"So? It could just be because Damien is here. Right Aria?" Wei asked.

"Whatever it's not that and I know it. But that's the least pressing thing that we need to worry about. How did he find you?" She asked while turning to look at me.

"I… might have been practicing a bit. Not too much and definitely not enough for him to be able to find me," I answered.

"I think that something big is going to happen soon… I'm pretty sure that we'll be needing help from these guys and the Cullen's. We need to be careful. Something bad could happen to anyone of us at any time," Wei-Wei said while grabbing another water bottle.

"Like what? There's sharks in the water that'll magically kill us? Get real. The guys aren't demons that we're going to have to get rid of," I said.

"I know. And we're not saying that. But something is off here. We got to be on high alert all the time." Emma said as she finished her yogurt. "So, when are we going to explore? Because if we are going to defeat Damien then we better as hell be ready and know this land."

"Yeah, and I haven't been by a big mass of water in days. I'm dying Aria. Can we go to the beach and then explore sometime?" Wei asked me. I knew that her being away from water for a long time wasn't a good thing. Her powers keep her connected to it.

"Yeah, I'll ask Sam tomorrow. Where are you guys staying?" I asked.

"Some house that Momma's renting for us. She thinks that we might be here awhile. It's by the beach and forest so all of us can have easy access to our power source. She also said that if we need help here then she'll come," Emma explained.

"Okay. But please don't go overboard with the powers okay? We have to keep a low profile and that's hard enough with Damien being around hunting us. I don't need them to find out that we're Warriors okay?" I asked.

They all nodded their heads and said good night to me as they were leaving.

"Oh yeah, this is for you. We each have one. Momma Odie made sure that we each have one, we're supposed to wear them at all times. It protects us from being tracked when we do use our powers. It can also help us transform into our uniform faster too," Emma said as she was almost out the door. She handed me the necklace with the same design as my tattoo on it. I nodded my head okay and then closed and locked the door. I slowly made my way upstairs and went to bed glad that the day is finally over. _I wonder what tomorrow will bring. Hopefully good and nothing to bad_ I thought as I drifted off to sleep.


	15. Chapter 15: Our Generation

**Chapter Fifteen: Our Generation**

**Aria's POV**

_I was running through the woods. I was being chased by something but couldn't tell what. All of a sudden I was in a giant clearing. I couldn't see anything beyond the clearing._

_"Aria… Aria… You must be careful. Learn to trust yourself fully… Aria… Heed my warning," some voice was calling to me. I couldn't see anyone else near me when all of a sudden there was a passage of some kind in the clearing. I started running towards it. I was almost there when a figure appeared from the opening._

_"Don't be afraid my child. I know who you are," It said. The figure looked like a woman dressed in a 16__th__ century dress that was white. She had long hair that reached down past her back. "You must be careful, don't let the bigger problems over shadow what is going on right before your eyes," she said._

_"Wait! What are you talking about?" I asked. I took a step towards her when she slowly started disappearing right before my eyes._

_"Heed my warning child. Be careful of what's happening around you. You must trust yourself to become who you were meant to be," were her last words before she fully disappeared._

I woke up and stared at the ceiling while trying to regulate my breathing. The dream kept replaying over and over again in my head. After a few minutes I finally got up and got dressed in a pair of running capris and a white sports bra and t-shirt. I was walking downstairs when I heard voices in the kitchen.

As soon as I was in the doorway I could see that all of the guys were sitting around the kitchen table while scarfing down food. It didn't surprise me to find all of them in there. What did surprise me was that they all had no shirts on. Up until this point, I was used to seeing them with some sort of shirt on, even if it was just a tank top. Jared was the first to notice me in the doorway. Slowly all conversation stopped and everyone was waiting for something to happen. I sat down in between Jacob and Leah, putting me almost directly across from Sam. Emily set down a plate in front of me and I smiled at her to show my thanks.

I was about to eat when one of the boys asked, "So, that guy that tried to kill you the other day, is he your boyfriend?"

I looked up and saw that it was Paul who had asked. I surveyed everyone's faces. It seemed like no one had a problem with the fact that I knew him. Well, everyone looked apprehensive about my answer. I looked Paul in the eye before speaking.

"He is not my boyfriend. I knew him before I came here, yes. I was friends with him, yes. But the guy that attacked me… I don't know that guy." I kept my gaze even with Paul's while I responded to him. "If you'll excuse me, I promised Phyl, Emma and Wei-Wei that I would meet them at the beach. If that's alright with you?" I asked while standing. Sam nodded his head and all of the guys just stared at me. I don't think that they were used to seeing many people stand up to Paul and be that harsh to him.

I walked out the front door and took the path that would lead me to the beach the quickest. On my way there I texted Emma and told her to meet me at the beach. Once I saw the ocean, I smiled. I headed towards the water until my feet were only a few feet from where the waves were running up the sand.

"Hey," I heard from behind me. I turned around and found Phyl, Emma and Wei-Wei looking at me. I smiled and them and turned back so that way I was facing the water once again. We inadvertently made a line that went Phyleesha, Wei-Wei, Emma and then I. I watched as Wei-Wei walked until her ankles where submerged in the water.

"Everything okay A?" Phyl asked. She had turned to look at me with the left half of her body facing the ocean.

"I lied," I said. All three of them turned to look at me. "I told Sam and the guys that I barely know Damien. I said that we were friends. That I don't know who he is now. But that's a lie. I know exactly what he is. He's finally showing us who he truly is," I continued on while not making eye contact with any of them.

"You didn't lie Aria. You don't know who he is anymore. Hell! None of us do! He's completely different from the person that we knew back home. He played all of us. He was the master of the game and web of lies that he spun," Emma said while moving towards me. She put her arms around me and gave me a hug while facing the sun.

We stayed like that; all three of us silent and not moving, watching and listening intently to the ocean and the sounds around us.

"We'll stop him," Wei-Wei said. She turned her back to the ocean and faced all of us. "It's our job to stop him. It's our problem now. Not for one of us, but for all of us. We can stop him, together," she smiled at us. It was then that I knew that our friendship was forged with the tightest bonds.

"Hell yeah we will! He won't stand a chance against all of us," Phyl said. Once she finished she did a cart-wheel and landed in a karate pose that Wei-Wei pushed her out of and had all of us laughing at her.

We decided to hang out and goof off for a bit before going back to Sam and Emily's house. It was nice to relax with the people who I trusted most in the world. We had finally stopped laughing after I shoved Wei-Wei into a larger wave that came up the beach. We were all laying down with our legs bent and backs on the sand, just staring up at the sky.

"So… what's going on with you and Jacob?" Emma asked.

"Ugh! Not you guys too!" I complained.

"Too? Who else is bugging you about him?" Phyl asked.

"Oh no! Nothing is going on between us! And nothing will happen between us," I said vehemently.

"Why do you say that?" Emma asked.

"Because, I can chance getting him hurt. He already was almost hurt or maybe even killed by Damien the other night…" I trailed off.

"I think that you're scared that this boy could make you feel like your old self…" Emma whispered.

"What do you mean, like my old self?" I asked.

"You changed once you and Damien broke up. You guys were together for so long that it was like you didn't know how to be your own self anymore! You were always sad and didn't want to do anything with anyone… Then the thing with your brother happened and you moved here… You're slowly becoming the Aria that we all became friends with," She explained to me. I had never realized that I had changed myself after what had happened.

"We love you A. We just want you to be happy. Nothing will stop us from being happy for you," Wei-Wei said.

"Ditto," Phyl and Emma chorused together.

"Thanks guys. I love you too" I said while taking a turn to look at each of them.

* * *

Hey Guys! Sorry about that... Anyway... Here is the new chapter! Let me know what you think! The juicy stuff is about to come!


	16. Chapter 16: Touch

**Chapter Sixteen: Touch**

"Okay, okay… Now that all of that lovely dovey stuff is done with can we get down to business?" Phyl asked. I figured that Phyl would be the one to make a comment like that.

"What exactly do you mean by business?" I questioned her.

"I mean, the real reason why we came here." She answered. She gave me a pointed look. "We want to see where he attacked you at. We need you to walk us through it all."

I looked at each of them separately. Eventually I sighed and looked towards the cliffs that the guys have told me about. "There. I had my freak out in the storm up there," I directed them as I pointed up at the specific cliff. It was at least twenty feet high. They nodded their heads and were waiting for me to lead them up there. I started walking towards the forest. We had a comfortable silence going on around us. I knew that they were worried about me, since it had only been a few days since Jacob and I had been attacked. _Jacob… I can't believe that he would risk his life for me! I mean, he barely knows me… But we're both to blame on that part I guess_, I thought as we maneuvered our way over fallen trees and tree roots.

"Hold up guys," Emma instructed. She was facing a different direction than the rest of us.

"What's up?" I asked her. She didn't answer. She was just staring off that way into space.

She walked towards where she was looking slowly. Caustiously. Once she was about ten feet from us, she stopped and just stared blankly into the vast lines of trees.

"Nothing… I thought that I saw something. Sorry, continue on," she said with a small smile on her face.

I nodded at her and continued on like she asked. We were walking for about ten more minutes until we got to the cliff. I stood back as the girls marched forward to look around. They were looking everywhere. At the edge of the cliff, where I was standing when I had my tiny meltdown, and where Jacob was standing when I noticed him. I don't think it dawned on them that I didn't _actually_ see Damien until I was much further in the forest. I turned and looked in the direction that Jacob had taken me that night. Slowly, I started walking towards the tree that we were huddled under when I realized that he was there. I still don't understand how he found me or knew where I was since I had booked it out the back door from the kitchen. When I arrived at the tree, I noticed that the girls had been slowly following behind me.

"How did he find you?" One of them asked.

"I don't know. One minute I was standing over by the cliff screaming and the next thing I know… he's standing there with me. Holding me, almost trying to shield me from the pain," I replied. I had moved so that way I could see their faces. They all had looks of slight confusion on. "What?"

"Who are you talking about?" Wei-Wei asked.

"Jacob. That's who you were asking about right?" I saw that they all shared a look with each other before fully facing me again.

"We were talking about Damien. What made you think of Jacob all of a sudden?" Phyleesha asked.

"I'm… not too sure. Sometimes though, I'll be thinking and my mind will wander over to him," I shrugged. I didn't really want to tell them about my suspicions about having a _Vero Amante_. I mean, I still wasn't so sure that it even existed. We knew so little about what we were as it was. "Come to think of it, I don't know how Damien found me either. Considering that I only used a tiny fraction of my powers, and it was only once before I even thought that I saw him." I needed to change the subject. I could see something formulating on Emma's face.

"Okay. But back to Jacob… you think about him? Like a lot?" Phyleesha questioned. I could tell that she was getting ahead of herself. As I was shaking my head and about to respond to her she cut me off. "Like enough to have a crush on him?"

"I never said that."

"And we wouldn't blame you if you did. You deserve this the most out of all of us," She pressured.

"Let's get back to business. Like looking for clues of how we can stop Damien," Wei-Wei advised. I gave her a small smile in appreciation. I knew that I could count on her to change the subject from an awkward one.

We spent the next while looking around, with me guiding the girls through what I remembered happened and where I thought that it had happened.

"I think that we should head back. I mean, we've been out here all day and I'm getting hungry!" Phyl exclaimed while she planted herself on a log.

"I agree. I don't think that we'll find anything. At least, we won't find anything as ourselves. We'll probably have to be Warriors in order to find a trace of him," Emma stated. She had some solid logic.

We all agreed and started making our way back to Sam and Emily's house. It took us about half an hour to walk back. By the time we got there, Emily had nearly all of dinner done. I walked inside first with Phyl, Wei-Wei and then Emma in behind me, in that order.

"Hey Emily," We chorused.

"Hi girls! I hope you're hungry because dinner is just about finished! If you want to wash up, you'll be one of the first ones to get food," Emily said without even looking at us. She continued to cook and get everything in order on the table. We all said a quiet "yes ma'am" and hurried from the kitchen. When we got into the living, the first thing I noticed was that nearly all of the guys were in there doing something. It seemed like everyone except Seth, Colin and Brady were here. Sam was the first one to spot us. I gave a small wave and smile, hoping that he wouldn't be upset, seeing as how I was gone nearly all day long. He smiled back and seemed to okay with everything.

"Hey guys… Um… Phyleesha, Wei-Wei and Emma are going to stay for dinner" I stated. I crossed my arms over my chest when the boys turned to look at me. I hoped that they wouldn't put up a fight about it.

"That's fine," Sam said. It looked like any protest from anyone of them was immediately shot down upon Sam speaking. I realized that I wasn't the only one to notice that. The girls saw it too. We exchanged looks that said 'clearly he's in charge' to one another.

Embry moved off of the couch and pulled Quil off with him, so that way we could sit on there. They moved over into a chair and sat down on the floor by Paul and Jared, making us sit by Jacob and Sam. It was only able to fir three of us, so Emma sat on the floor in front of Phyleesha, letting her play with her hair.

"Thanks Embry," I said while smiling at him. For some reason he glanced over at Jacob before responding back.

"Uh, no problem," it sounded a bit forced.

I looked over and saw Jacob staring between me and Embry. I turned my head and motioned to Wei-Wei, wondering if she noticed it too. She did see it too. She nodded back to me and turned to make a comment about something that Jared asked her. I saw that Emma and Phyleesha were talking with Paul, Quil and Embry about something.

"So, what were you ladies doing today?" Jacob asked me.

"Why do you want to know?" I answered.

"Just… uh, just curious is all. I want to… make sure that… you're safe ya know? Especially with everything that's happened lately," He responded a bit nervously. I felt bad for answering back a bit snap-ishy at him.

"Oh, well. We just hung out at the beach. And the girls wanted to explore around a bit," I half lied on the spot. I knew that I couldn't tell him what we were really doing. It was bad enough that he nearly got hurt because of me. And it would raise to many questions if I told him that the girls were inspecting where we were attacked.

A few minutes later, Emily called everyone to dinner. The girls were allowed to get their plates first. I got mine after them, and then Emily got hers. Once we were settled at the table, the guys and Leah dug in. There was some idle chit chat from everyone around the table. I could tell that everyone was interested in the girls that I call my best friends. I noticed that the only people not conversing, besides myself, were Sam and Jacob. I was sitting next to Jacob and across from Sam, I could tell that something was on Jacob's mind.

I was so deep in thought that I didn't notice that Jacob was talking to me until he put his hand on top of mine. It was like small electric shocks passed between our hands. I jerked my head to him and was looking with slightly wide eyes.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, sorry. Guess I was lost in thought," I answered back. I slowly pulled my hand out from under his. I snuck a glance around the table and noticed that Emma and Wei-Wei were looking at me. I chose to ignore them the rest of dinner and focused on talking with everyone else around the table.

After dinner all of us girls, minus Leah, were clearing off the table and putting away the left overs when Jacob came into the kitchen.

"Aria…?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I talk to you real quick?" He asked me. All of the girls were looking back and forth between us expectantly. "Outside? If that's alright with you?"

"Yeah, that's fine. We'll be right back guys," I told the girls as I started walking towards the back door.

Once we were off of the porch and a few feet away I stopped and turned around. I almost bumped into Jacob, not realizing that he got that close to me. His hands were on my arms, stopping me from falling backwards. I looked up at him and took a few steps away from him.

"Aria, I was wondering… Umm, that is if you also want to…" He kept stuttering and then started mumbling to himself.

"Jacob!" I said. He wasn't paying attention. I could vaguely hear him mumbling to himself. "Jacob…" I touched his arm. He snapped to face me and it seemed like his attention returned to me. "What is it? Just tell me," I prompted.

"Do you want to go out on Friday?"

* * *

**I realized that I posted the wrong chapter! This is the correct Chapter Sixteen! sorry about that!**


	17. Chapter 17: Miss Movin' On

**Please read chapter sixteen again! As i have realized that I accidentally put up the wrong chapter! I am so sorry!**

* * *

**Chapter Seventeen: Miss Movin' On**

**Aria's P.O.V.**

I knew that as soon as I walked into the house that I would be bombarded with questions from the girls. I decided to take my time and slowly walk back. Once I walked through the door I knew that my assumption was correct. It was almost in complete synchronization, the three of them turned their heads towards me so fast I was surprised that their necks didn't snap in half. None of us moved. I was standing in the doorway staring at them waiting, knowing what kind of questions were going to pop into their heads. They were standing in the same place as when I left them. I raised one eyebrow at them.

"Well… What did you guys talk about?" Phyleesha asked me. She was leaning forward while asking. As if that would make me want to tell her even more about it.

"Nothing too important if you really must know. Just… shop talk," I vaguely answered. I wasn't too sure on how they would react to the information.

"Don't you dare lie to us missy!" Phyl said. She marched towards me and pointed a finger in my face. I moved inside and over to the fridge to avoid her. "We know that it was something important! What did you two talk about?!" she demanded.

"What she really wants to know is if it had to do anything with… _him_?" Wei-Wei piped in. I turned to look at her and realized what they were getting at.

"It had absolutely _nothing_ to do with that scumbag at all. I promise you that," I responded. I looked all of them in the eye so they would understand that. "He just wanted to know… if uh… if I would go out with him… this Friday" I mumbled the last half while quickly turning towards the fridge.

"He what?!" Emmerson demanded. Turning back around I couldn't tell if she was happy, upset or worried.

"He asked me out," I reaffirmed for her.

"And what was your answer?" Phyl asked. One look at her and you could tell that she was happy yet anxious.

"Why do you need to know? It doesn't involve you guys. It's between me and Jacob" I told them. _And to think, I actually thought that they would be happy for me_, I thought to myself. It looked like they were nervous to voice their thoughts.

"Look Aria, we are happy for you. It's just that we want to make sure that you are 100% sure about wanting to go out with him" Wei-Wei suggested.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" I asked. I was 100% confident that this was what I wanted. And what I needed to happen in my life. Not only was this good for me but I had a feeling that it was also going to be a good thing for Jacob as well.

"It means that we don't want you to end up sub-consciously using Jacob to officially get over Damien!" Emmerson said. She stood up and stared me down. "I know that you've been saying for a while that you are over him but I don't want you to end up hurt or sad that you accidently used Jacob to get over him," she explained.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes while exhaling. I couldn't believe what they were saying to me. I shook my head, unable to believe that they are actually thinking this. "I thought that we trusted each other enough to believe one another when we talk about our feelings. I am over him. And even if I wasn't when I got here after what he did to not just me but an innocent too, I sure as hell am now! I can't believe that you would even assume that! After all that I've talked and ranted to you guys about!" I started pacing, absolutely bewildered about these accusations. Fed up with their attitudes I started to head past them when Emmerson grabbed my arm.

"We're just looking out for you. I don't want to see you go through that again," She stated. She was standing with her feet shoulder width apart and she dropped both of her hands to her hips.

"I'm fine! Why can't you guys see that? I've moved on! He means nothing to me except as a guy that we have to take down once and for all!" I threw my hands up.

_(Aria)_

_I'm breaking down, gonna start from scratch__  
__Shake it off like an Etch-A-Sketch__  
__My lips are saying goodbye__  
__My eyes are finally dry_

_(Wei-Wei)_

_I'm not the way that I used to be__  
__I took the record off repeat__  
__You killed me, but I survived__  
__And now I'm coming alive_

_(Aria)_

_I'll never be that girl again__  
__No-oh-oh__  
__I'll never be that girl again__  
__No-oh-oh_

_(Wei-Wei)_

_My innocence is wearing thin__  
__But my heart is growing strong__  
__So call me, call me, call me_

_(All)_

_Miss Movin' On__  
__Oh-oh-oh__  
__Miss Movin' On__  
__Oh-oh-oh_

_(Phyleesha)_

_Yeah_

_(Wei-Wei)_

_I broke the glass that surrounded me ([Emmerson:] Surrounded me)__  
__I ain't the way you remember me ([Emmerson:] Remember me)__  
__I was such a good girl__  
__So fragile, but no more._

_(Phyleesha)_

_I jumped the fence to the other side ([Emmerson:] The other side)__  
__My whole world was electrified ([Emmerson:] Elecrified)__  
__Now I'm no longer afraid__  
__It's Independence Day_

_(Emmerson)_

_It's Independence Day_

_(Aria)_

_I'll never be that girl again__  
__No-oh-oh__  
__I'll never be that girl again__  
__No-oh-oh_

_(Wei-Wei)_

_My innocence is wearing thin__  
__But my heart is growing strong__  
__So call me, call me, call me_

_(All)_

_Miss Movin' On_

_(Phyleesha)_

_Everything is changing and I never wanna go back to the way it was (the way it was)__  
__I'm finding who I am and who I am from here on out is gonna be enough (gonna be enough)__  
__It's gonna be enough_

_(Emmerson)_

_I'll never be that girl again__  
__No-oh-oh_

_(Aria)_

_I'll never be that girl again__  
__Oh-oh-oh_

_(All)_

_My innocence is wearing thin__  
__But my heart is growing strong__  
__So call me, call me, call me_

_Miss Movin' On (oooon)__  
__Oh-oh-oh__  
__Miss Movin' On (on and on and on and on and on)__  
__Oh-oh-oh__  
__Miss Movin' On (on and on and on and on)__  
__Oh-oh-oh (on and on and on and on)__  
__Miss Movin' On__  
__Oh-oh-oh (hey, yeah, yeah)_

_(Aria)_

_I'm movin' on_

Each of us slipped into our roles and we improvised our dance around the kitchen and into the living room. We all hugged each other afterwards. Our special four way hug while touching heads. Wei-Wei and Emma were breathing hard while Phyl had a smile on her face.

"We are one hundred percent behind you A. No matter what you decide. Always and forever through the power, we are united," Phyl stated. She placed her hand between all of us as she repeated the mantra of the ancient Warriors.

"Always and forever," The rest of us chorused while placing our hands on top of hers. I was smiling from ear to ear, glad that they were able to understand and accept my decision.

"What did you say to Jacob anyway?" Emma asked.

"Oh, you know, just that he could come get around 7 that night," I giggled. I was starting to feel a bit nervous about it. I began wondering if the girls were right and I was just using Jacob to officially get over Damien. _It can't be though. I felt nothing when but worry and afraid when I saw him last._ "Where did everyone go anyway?"

"The boys left shortly after you went outside with Jacob. Which leaves us to discuss some more important material," Wei-Wei said.

"Like what exactly?" Emma questioned.

"School starts in about a month," Wei-Wei started off. She leveled a look at all of us. I had a sinking feeling about it. She walked over to the bay window at the front of the living room. She stared out the window and looked up at the sky.

"So? What does school starting have to do with anything that's been happening lately?" Emma asked.

"Yeah. I don't quite understand that leap that your brain took. I mean I know that your, like, the smartest out of all of us but please remember to simplify things for the rest of us.

"It means that the harvest moon is in two months…" Wei-Wei trailed off. She turned back to facing us. It dawned on me all of a sudden. It would be the our fourth harvest moon as Warriors.

"Okay. So that means that we have what then? Just under two months to find Damien and beat him?" Phyl asked.

"And if we don't find and stop him by then, what is going to happen to us exactly?" Emma asked.

The three of them looked at me, expecting me to have the answer. I looked at them with a somber expression. Not too sure how to tell them what might happen at the harvest moon.

* * *

**Hey! I completely understand. I am a horrible person... In my defense I have been going through some personal stuff, my school work has kept me busy and I lost some inspiration for a bit. But my inspiration is back! Hopefully I can continue more smoothly than before! Please tell me how you are liking this chapter and if you feel that anything needs to be changed.**


End file.
